Comments | greygirlbeast: You can't cry over every hamburger.

greygirlbeast

You can't cry over every hamburger.

Jan 20, 2015 12:57

Some blue, some clouds today. Out there, it's 39˚F, feels like 22˚F. In Birmingham, it's 57˚F, with an expected high of 65˚F. In Atlanta, it's 58˚F, also with an expected high of 65˚F. In Jacksonville, it's 58˚F, with an expected high of 67˚F. In New Orleans, it's currently 63˚F, with an expected high of 68˚F. Just four places I'd rather be than ( Read more... )

subterranean press, good movies, jvp, turtles, vampires, not writing, the west wing, jenny lewis, the secret world, bad movies, gary oldman, cold weather, tom waits, dinosaurs, proofreading, squirrels, dracula, decemberists, black helicopters

Comments 8

Hamburger ext_1285666 January 20 2015, 18:03:56 UTC

I can cry over the hamburger if I receive it from McDonalds.

If I buy it myself, I'll cry over my mind.

setsuled January 20 2015, 18:39:24 UTC

The film is always straining - admirably - to be something from another era, whether it's the Golden Age of Silent Film or the Golden Age of Hammer.

And the great thing is that it ends up feeling like itself, it's its own whole self-contained era of cinema because nothing else has that particular strange, at times deliberately artificial, practical effects look. It's a great pleasure finding the various films that inspired particular effects--Vampyr, Cocteau's films, the 1940 Thief of Bagdad--but put in the context of a more modern cinematic language there's something beautiful and dangerous about it that I think comes from Coppola's deep love for cinema. And it was just before cgi took over everything so it stands as evidence of how practical effects sort of breathe in a way cgi doesn't seem to.

I listened to Werner Herzog's commentary recently on the Blu-Ray to his Nosferatu and he discussed his feelings regarding the Coppola film, saying he loved the introductory sequence but felt almost nothing worked after the story went to ( ... )

sovay January 20 2015, 18:49:02 UTC

I have the new Decemberists album today, and I also have Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins' Rabbit Fur Coat, so I'll drag myself to night on new music.

I didn't even know there was a new Decemberists album. Thank you! It looks spectacular.

I'm glad there are squirrels helping keep back the sky.

martianmooncrab January 20 2015, 19:46:44 UTC

Gary Oldman's performance is fucking brilliant

yes it is, and his version of Dracul despite the flaws in the script, lurking about in foggy London were spot on, plus his obsession with Mina.

ext_2973715 January 20 2015, 20:03:10 UTC

I rewatched Dracula recently again, and I'm close to agreeing with you all the way but in the end, I just can't. The film is a glorious mess of the kind 'they don't make anymore' (and did they ever, really? Is my nostalgia fragmented/misplaced?). Nowadays 'Hollywood excess' translates to washed-out CGI rebootfests... Coppola went for an all-out decadence that's impossible to really do in the mainstream anymore. It's both Grand Guignol (in its gory moments) and melodrama (in its romantic moments), and embraces both of these things with no winking irony, despite the myriad 'knowing' bits of film history trivia that otherwise litter the film. So it can tip over, and I'll still love it.

Oh and Reeves is, I think, the perfect actor to represent a legendary dolt like Jonathan Harker.