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More of My Favorite Films:
My two favorite cop films are 'The Hidden' and 'Best Seller'. Check them out and let me know
what you think of them. Both are cop films - with a real kick!
Other Recent VERY GOOD films:
I really liked THE GAME! Check it out!
Pulp Fiction and Dusk till Dawn. Two wonderful Quentin Tarentino Films (the first with John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson (who won an oscar), the second with George Clooney).
Both films also
had Harvey Keitel (a magnificant, underappreciated actor) and Tarentino himself, as he acts in most of his own films!
Violent and nasty but both are OUTRAGEOUSLY -- ORIGINAL!!
I got my parents to watch Dusk
till Dawn and they kept asking me 'I thought this was a vampire film' untill half way through the film (up until then it had been a rather violent cop chase film!)
When it turns into a vampire film ANYONE
who did not know it was coming would be shocked!
These films are among the best -- for challenging the audience to think in new ways or reconsider their preconceptions. And I had never seen some of the
'tricks' done in the way these films did it.
I was really struck in Dusk till Dawn when Tarentino (who plays Clooneys brother, and who is clearly a couple bottles short of a sixpack) makes a sexually explicit
comment to the young daughter, and she replies she would love him to do that to her.
Then == you immediately realize == Tarentino's character is obviously INSANE, and that the young daughter obviously did NOT say
what he thought he HEARD her say!
Truly a wonderful way for the audience to immediately clue in to the fact that this guy is REALLY CRAZY -- in only a couple of words!
I cant recall any other film that used this wonderfully effective mechanism!
Both Films have wonderfully memorable scenes - Pulp Fiction has that wonderful discussion about intelligent pigs, the Travolta-Thurman
dance number, the Disposal Problem (when they accidentally blow someones head off), and Bruce Willis spotting the Samurai Sword as he is looking for weapons in a pawn shop. And Dusk till Dawn has wonderful
scenes, with Cheech Marin as the Master of Ceremonies at the Titty Twister (and if there is not really a Mexican Bar with that name, I'm sure its being built as I write!), the characters in the Bar (Sex Machine),
and Keitel as the Preacher who has Lost his Faith.
You have to have an open mind. There are strong scenes in both films. But BOTH of them will cause you to think - and what more can you ask anyway!
Loved Galaxy Quest (ok thats SciFi). SEE IT!
Horrible Films: BattleField Earth. Geez! Hard to believe.
Brings me to an interesting point - Travolta and
Scientology. Scientology for those who havent heard of them is a pseudo-religion founded by L Ron Hubbard, a 1940s grade-C scifi writer. Hubbard observed that the fastest way to make a million was to found
your own religion. Oddly enough he did it. He started a pseudo-scientific craze (Dianetics) which swept the colleges during the late 50s and early 60s. Check Martin Gardners great book 'Fads and
Fallacies' for information on Dianetics. It basically held that almost all medical conditions and many mental conditions are due to pre-birth traumas or things that happened to you in the womb. They came
up with some bogus crank devices to 'measure' things. The FDA was shutting them down for making extraordinary claims for their 'E-meters' with no scientific or medical basis. They did an end-run by
converting to a RELIGION - and then claiming the E-meters worked through spiritual mechanisms, thus kinda drop kicking the FDA out of the picture.
They have engaged in some pretty scary activities -- shutting down and terrorizing their critics, with both legal and extra-legal
activities. Converts who come to 'doubt' the church have been whisked off onto ships owned by the Church, where the errors of their ways can be explained to them - away from prying eyes.
They have had considerable success in Hollywood enlisting some serious fine actors (Travolta, Cruise just to name two) in their religion.
The saddest thing about Travolta, is I think he's a DAMN FINE ACTOR -- and he seems to credit the revival of his career -- to Scientology.
John, should you ever read this webpage, I think you were
ALWAYS a very fine actor -- and that you did it WITHOUT Scientology. The chance you took in Pulp Fiction was significant, but your acting there caused a LOT of people to take another look at you. I'll ALWAYS
remember your depiction of the Sophisticated Hit-Man
But -- you did it with what was INSIDE you -- John -- and if you believed more in YOURSELF this would be pretty obvious!
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