list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Transit: Water - Reserves and Networks on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Transit_Water_Reserves_and_Networks/204731/default.aspx Title: Transit: Water - Reserves and Networks
Director: Michel Barbeau
Number of discussion threads: 1
]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:47:15 GMTTransit: Water - Reserves and NetworksMichel Barbeau1http://www.spout.com/images/no_image.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Transit_Water_Reserves_and_Networks/204731/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/groups/Top_5/Re_Top_5_Overrated_Movies/190/39583/1/ShowPost.aspxPost By: flair
Post To: Top 5
Post Date: 1/16/2009 12:47:15 AM
Body: [quote user="pippin06"] [/quote] It's fun to read over threads sometimes. Geez, I talk a lot. Anyway, flair, your disdain for Scorsese aside (because I was generally feeling non-love for the oh so insane one, but correct me if I'm wrong), I liked this choice (Closer). I know a lot of people who like this movie, and I just could not get into it, for the same reasons (though, I doubt I put them so eloquently). And I've never heard of The Hospital. Not that I'm any benchmark, but has anyone else heard of it (save for Rizzo) and thinks it's overrated? I think if something is going to be overrated, it has to be, you know, not obscure, so I'm trying to find out if it's really that obscure or not. [/quote] and Risselada wrote: After watching Network recently and watching all of the DVD features I learned about Paddy Chayefsky and The Hospital was mentioned a few times. I'm wondering if you share similar sentiments about the Network script. Taking these in sequence: 1) Yes, Pippin, I was prescient enough not to expect a Christmas card from the Scorsese family, which cushioned my disappointment. I very much enjoyed Taxi Driver, particularly the acting. I didn't anticipate he would go on to make the same movie over and over. George C. Scott missed many of his calls for The Hospital, because his process at the time consisted of going on a bender, taking two days off for a little acting, then resuming the bender. Despite this, he was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA and, not that it counts, Golden Globe. Paddy Chayefsky's script won all three, over Klute, proving once again that when humans get involved, there's no justice. (Or is that a line from Closer? I too have a friend who raves about that movie; the human mind is a mysterious organ.) Of course, if you conclude that this movie is now too obscure to be overrated, so much the better. 2) Risselada, you may be trying to goad me into launching a batty uncle theme page, but I have a soft spot in my head for Network, which was the essentially the end of a process that began with the rough draft version, i.e., The Hospital. To my mind, the principal difference is that Howard Beale comes across as a decent man, confused about where the culture is going and where he's ended up, but not a smug bully, contagious with white elitist bile, like Dr. Herbert Bock. Part of that's due to Peter Finch and Sidney Lumet, a committed star and better director, but Chayefsky also deserves credit for developing his characters and concepts. That doesn't save Faye Dunaway from serving as the same piñata for misogyny that Diana Rigg played in The Hospital. (Beatrice Straight's Oscar was a sort of joke; her part is tiny but in this context it's so unexpected to hear a woman given dialogue that rings true, it seems like a revelation.) But even Dunaway illustrates another important difference between the two movies. In the main, Network's supporting actors are much more on their game and in tune with their characters, and endeavour to make them something other than stereotypes. Even in the 1970s, the decline of American television news, and much of American journalism, already was a truism. The credit Chayefsky now gets for being ahead of his time instead of merely reflecting it is a bit anachronistic. (Although things have gotten marginally worse. Lara Logan's recent comment that she'd blow her brains out if she had to make do with American news demonstrates that even a home-wrecking, South African ex-model has a firmer grasp on reality than, just for example, Sean Hannity.) But I digress. What Paddy does deserve top marks for is his excellent job of absorbing the zeitgeist. This script put many people's fears and criticisms into pointed sloganeering. Finch took it from there. Although Beale's speeches go on as long or longer than Dr. Bock's, they come across as delirious social commentary, over-the-top truth-telling, not just personal gripes. On the other hand, who would have guessed that Ken Russell would turn out to be the best interpreter of late-career Chayefsky?
]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:47:15 GMTflairTop 51/16/2009 12:47:15 AM[quote user="pippin06"] [/quote] It's fun to read over threads sometimes. Geez, I talk a lot. Anyway, flair, your disdain for Scorsese aside (because I was generally feeling non-love for the oh so insane one, but correct me if I'm wrong), I liked this choice (Closer). I know a lot of people who like this movie, and I just could not get into it, for the same reasons (though, I doubt I put them so eloquently). And I've never heard of The Hospital. Not that I'm any benchmark, but has anyone else heard of it (save for Rizzo) and thinks it's overrated? I think if something is going to be overrated, it has to be, you know, not obscure, so I'm trying to find out if it's really that obscure or not. [/quote] and Risselada wrote: After watching Network recently and watching all of the DVD features I learned about Paddy Chayefsky and The Hospital was mentioned a few times. I'm wondering if you share similar sentiments about the Network script. Taking these in sequence: 1) Yes, Pippin, I was prescient enough not to expect a Christmas card from the Scorsese family, which cushioned my disappointment. I very much enjoyed Taxi Driver, particularly the acting. I didn't anticipate he would go on to make the same movie over and over. George C. Scott missed many of his calls for The Hospital, because his process at the time consisted of going on a bender, taking two days off for a little acting, then resuming the bender. Despite this, he was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA and, not that it counts, Golden Globe. Paddy Chayefsky's script won all three, over Klute, proving once again that when humans get involved, there's no justice. (Or is that a line from Closer? I too have a friend who raves about that movie; the human mind is a mysterious organ.) Of course, if you conclude that this movie is now too obscure to be overrated, so much the better. 2) Risselada, you may be trying to goad me into launching a batty uncle theme page, but I have a soft spot in my head for Network, which was the essentially the end of a process that began with the rough draft version, i.e., The Hospital. To my mind, the principal difference is that Howard Beale comes across as a decent man, confused about where the culture is going and where he's ended up, but not a smug bully, contagious with white elitist bile, like Dr. Herbert Bock. Part of that's due to Peter Finch and Sidney Lumet, a committed star and better director, but Chayefsky also deserves credit for developing his characters and concepts. That doesn't save Faye Dunaway from serving as the same piñata for misogyny that Diana Rigg played in The Hospital. (Beatrice Straight's Oscar was a sort of joke; her part is tiny but in this context it's so unexpected to hear a woman given dialogue that rings true, it seems like a revelation.) But even Dunaway illustrates another important difference between the two movies. In the main, Network's supporting actors are much more on their game and in tune with their characters, and endeavour to make them something other than stereotypes. Even in the 1970s, the decline of American television news, and much of American journalism, already was a truism. The credit Chayefsky now gets for being ahead of his time instead of merely reflecting it is a bit anachronistic. (Although things have gotten marginally worse. Lara Logan's recent comment that she'd blow her brains out if she had to make do with American news demonstrates that even a home-wrecking, South African ex-model has a firmer grasp on reality than, just for example, Sean Hannity.) But I digress. What Paddy does deserve top marks for is his excellent job of absorbing the zeitgeist. This script put many people's fears and criticisms into pointed sloganeering. Finch took it from there. Although Beale's speeches go on as long or longer than Dr. Bock's, they come across as delirious social commentary, over-the-top truth-telling, not just personal gripes. On the other hand, who would have guessed that Ken Russell would turn out to be the best interpreter of late-career Chayefsky? http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/water/MemberTagFilms.aspxwater
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