HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: isbell@ai.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Reviews on _Malcolm X_
Date: 16 Nov 92 17:57:48
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: panther.ai.mit.edu
In-reply-to: reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu's message of 16 Nov 92 17:25:08 GMT

reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Peter Reiher) writes:
|>Well, Newsweek gave it a very positive, almost fawning review in their
|>latest issue (with Malcolm X on the cover).  They thought the 3.5
|>hours went quickly and well and were especially impressed with Denzel
|>Washington.
|>
|>Similarly, S&E gave two thumbs "waaaay up" for the film in their
|>weekly sindicated show.  They were especially impressed with Denzel &
|>Al Freeman Jr (who plays Elijah Muhammed).  They decided both deserved
|>Oscar nominations.  And they seemed impressed with the on-location
|>shots of Mecca/Egypt.  Described it as an beautiful epic.
|>
|>Looks like Spike Lee has managed a cinematic coup on this one.

|Variety, on the other hand, said it could easily have had half an hour
|cut with no damage, that it lacked the driving force of "The Autobiography
|of Malcolm X" (the book), that the Egyptian scenes were motiveless, and,
|in general, that the film failed to make Malcolm X appear a vital and
|important figure.  The reviewer said that Lee did well with a lot of scenes,
|but failed to tie his scenes together into a coherent whole. He, too, praised 
|Washington and Al Freeman, Jr., and the actors, in general. 


I haven't seen the movie yet, so I have no opinion; however, not
having the scenes "tie together into a coherent whole" would actually
make it just like the Haley book at least as I take the phrase to
mean.  On this note, in fact, Lee claimed to have tried to make the
differences in each of the phases of his life visually and
thematically stark.

Whatever.  That's 3 for 4, I guess.

|So we'll see.

Indeed, we shall see.
--
Peace.
                         "True peace is not the absence of tension,
                          it is the presence of justice"
                                    - Martin Luther King, Jr
                                   -\--/-
    Don't just adopt opinions     |  \/  |       Some of you are homeboys
          develop them.           |  /\  | but only I am The Homeboy From hell
                                   -/--\-

Xref: sparky rec.arts.movies:32890 alt.postmodern:2712 alt.cult-movies:10347
From: william@cithara.uucp (William Ross)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies,alt.postmodern,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Peter Greenaway
Keywords: macabre, michael nyman, dutch baroque
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 09:27:57 EST
Organization: Local Testbed for network mail, we trust!

lfiddick@nyx.cs.du.edu (larry fiddick) writes:

> what is his latest film?

Prospero's Books. Latest that I've seen. Loosly Based on William
Shakespeares The Tempest. Facinating Collage of Images, though you might
think you're watching a music video. And if you fall asleep don't assume
that the film bores you. Think of the magic.

nuff said

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One day I'll get it right              william@cithara.login.qc.ca
                                       postmaster%cithara@comback.login.qc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: lcd@ais.org (Leon Dent)
Subject: Re: DAVID LYNCH\DUNE
Organization: UMCC
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 05:23:08 GMT


IMHO, Dune should have been TWO movies, with the break coming at the death
of Yueh (Yueh! Yueh! Yueh!) and the escape into the desert.

In any case, the screenplay passed through the hands of many writers on
its way to the screen.

Leon Dent
lcd@ais.org
Xref: sparky rec.arts.movies:33446 alt.postmodern:2743 alt.cult-movies:10513
From: ricko@ee.uts.edu.au (Rick Jelliffe)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies,alt.postmodern,alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: Jarman (Re: Peter Greenaway)
Date: 23 Nov 92 06:32:53 GMT
Organization: University of Technology, Sydney
NNTP-Posting-Host: schutz.ee.uts.edu.au
Keywords: ocelot quantum demolition enfeoffment

kinsler@newton.physics.uq.oz.au (Paul Kinsler) writes:

>In article <1992Nov16.135831@aifh.ed.ac.uk>, davidw@aifh.ed.ac.uk (David Wren) writes:
>|> The film that Greenaway is working on at the moment is called "500 Men on 
>|> Horseback", I think. Sounds like typical Greenaway! I agree that Prospero's
>|> Books was not one of his best. Stunning to look at and listen to, though, and much
>|> better than Jarman's horrible version of "The Tempest".

Jarman's Tempest is a million times better than Prospero's Books.
At least Jarman doesn't seem to consider himself greater than 
Shakespeare. Greenaway is "Prospero's FX, with additional dialog by Wm 
Shakespeare (not that you can hear it anyway)". And always so ponderously
serious about everything.

Greenaway's film could actually have been based on almost anything: the
Tempest was only accidental. It could just as easily been Bilbo's
Books, based on "The Hobbit", though he would have needed a shorter cast.
If it actually brough anything out from the Tempest, that might have been
good, but in fact it just obscured. Greenway should stick to less
ambitious scripts whose vacuity his artiness could fill; he was 
out of his depth to treat one of our language's masterpieces.

-ricko 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: hafner@ifi.unizh.ch (Michel Hafner)
Subject: Most SHOCKING movie recently
Organization: University of Zurich, Department of Computer Science
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 13:05:50 GMT

Some days ago I saw some video footage of "surgical" operations by trance
doctors in Brasil and on the Philippines as performed daily there. I always
thought I could stomach a lot, but this made me really sick. The problem was
that it was real and very graphic, sometimes it seemed even meant to be
grotesque to stress the fact, that the cutting around in the flesh is only
secondary to the spiritual healing that is being applied ( there was a scene
where a little child was sawn open with a circular saw, something one would
associate with Dr. Mengele in some Nazi camp ). The operations are usually
made without anesthetics and not sterilized tools.
I didn't sleep too well the following night...
								M.H.
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: "james kewageshig" <james.kewageshig@canrem.com>
Subject: the reservoir dogs
Reply-To: "james kewageshig" <james.kewageshig@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: rec
Date: 20 Nov 92 19:31:37 EST

hasch@chem.queensu.ca (Hartmut Schmider) writes:

HS>Just saw 'The Reservoir Dogs' after reading the review of The Phantom.
HS>The film is one of the best I've seen this year. It is short, violent
HS>and straight to the point. The actors are excellent. The camera is great,
HS>the script simple and unpredictable. There is almost nothing that could
HS>have been done better. Four out of four.

I really liked it too, about 3 outa 4 stars, but one thing that did
kinda bother me was that in a couple of scenes, some of the characters
seem to be doing and saying things that seemed *painful* to say,
like they didn't make sense (a couple of scenes w/Mr White).  

Some people could argue that this was the intent of the director, but
it just seemed like the scene was *unnatural*, and awkward.

Also, the movie seemed a little play-ish, like it was originally a
play (was it?).  Some things in plays work because its a play, such as 
soliliques (sp?), and overdone dramatics, but in a movie, they have to 
be adapted and translated in a different way. There wasn't much that
needed to be changed, maybe it was just the way the story reminded me 
of a play.

HS>By the way: this was the first time, I was sitting in a theater all by myself.
HS>Doesn't seem to be a blockbuster, does it? Go figure.

At the theatre I saw it at, the was a hand-written sign stating that
the 'movie is extremely voilent, with scenes of torture' and even
with that warning, about 5 people walked out during the cop scene.
(The theatre was about sold-out though...)
 ________________________________________________________________________ 
|0 ___ ___  ____  ____  ____                                            0|\
|   \ \//    ||    ||    ||                James Kewageshig              |\|
|   _\//_   _||_  _||_  _||_      UUCP: james.kewageshig@canrem.com      |\|
|   N E T W O R K    V I I I    FIDONET:   James Kewageshig - 1:229/15   |\|
|0______________________________________________________________________0|\|
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---
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--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: Cindy_Bale@net.com (Cindy Bale)
Subject: Re: OLDMAN WAS A SEXY VAMP--NOT! (SPOILER)
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Organization: Network Equipment Technologies
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:11:49 GMT

In article <00963B4A.2DF8D7E0@vms.csd.mu.edu>, 9073hammesm@vms.csd.mu.edu
wrote:
> 
> In article <BxtL5C.HB8@inews.Intel.COM>, mdouglas@cad067.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Maria Douglas ) writes:
> >
> >-- 
> >O.K. folks.  Here's my opinion (hold on):
> >
> >First, Gary Oldman didn't "do it" for me.  Period.  I WANT a hunk o' vampire
> >and I got an unappealing, ho-hum, *unhung* vampire.  Chris Sarandon
> >(from Fright Night) can bite me any day!!!  Sex appeal, for me, is
> >quintessential to a convincing vampire, and Oldman was just that:
> >an "old man."  I am heterosexual, and believe me, I thought the
> >*women* were far more appealing and erotic than Oldman.  (The
> >guy who played Lucy's fiancee, who I am sure played Westley in Pricess
> >Bride, would have done it for me, too, but he was a stuffy English
> >guy.)
> >
>    (Other valid criticisms deleted.)
> 
Spoiler follows, so see the movie first.  Then go see it again!




I just have to reply about the eroticism in "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and
Gary Oldman's performance in particular.  When Gary Oldman's young Dracula
gets to the insane asylum, watch him and not Winona Ryder's Mina character.
 His reactions to her are the most compelling, involving rendition of a man
experiencing the full range of sexual ecstacy that I have seen in any "R"
rated film.  His whole body quivers as he leans backward - just to start
things off...    It was very good for me.  I would be interested in others
recommendations of comparable male performances in non-X-rated movies.  

I also suggest that the only other character worth watching for her
sexuality was the Lucy character as played by Sadie (?) in her first movie
role.  Very impressive! 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: ych@cs.utah.edu (Yuan Hsieh)
Subject: Re: Dracula (Spolier?)
Date: 16 Nov 92 15:15:24 MST
Keywords: minor spoilers
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

In article <26552@optima.cs.arizona.edu> margaret@cs.arizona.edu (Margaret Newman) writes:
>either.  I like scarey horror movies, I like vampire and werewolf movies
>or books.  This was really quite a let down.

A number of people have complained about Dracula.  I think part of the 
problems is that they were expecting a horror story, but what they failed 
to realize is that Dracula is actually a LOVE STORY.  Removing all the vampire
myth, the story is simply: man loses girlfriend, man renounce humanity,
man finds girlfriend-look-alike, man does everything to get her back.
It's just that in this case, man got supernatural powers and is hounded by
human for his appetite for human blood, and lives for hundreds of years 
before finding girlfriend-look-alike.  I mean, how cliche can you get?

Now personally, I can't stomach romance story either, however, 
the visuals of the movie just blow me away.  For me, it's like 
watching a Greenaway movie, I might not get into the story, but I am still 
glued to my seat, grinning like an idiot, absorbing every detail of every 
scene.

Bottomline: If you like to see pretty pictures or romance novels, 
	    go see this movie.

-Y'
From: werner@aero.org (Michael F. Werner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Spike Lee
Date: 20 Nov 1992 23:28:26 GMT
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: aerospace.aero.org
Summary: What Was His First Feature Length Film?

    What was the name of Spike's first film?  I believe it was a woman's
name?

-- 
 Michael F. Werner           |   Flight Dynamics Department
                             |   The Aerospace Corporation
 werner@aerospace.aero.org   |   El Segundo, California, USA  (near Los Angeles)
From: rorschak@daimi.aau.dk (Jesper Lauridsen)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Zentropa
Date: 16 Nov 92 21:09:42 GMT
Organization: Exile Government of Bramming

roland@quadsys.com (Roland Besserer) writes:

>BUT! Can you explain the color usage? I've seen it twice and can't figure
>out why color was used in certain shots and not others. There seems to be
>no logic behind the use of color. What am I missing

Don't bother with meanings - it looks great!
-- 
Jesper Lauridsen        | Je ne suis pas un voyou
rorschak@daimi.aau.dk   | Je suis Monsieur Hire
From: margaret@cs.arizona.edu (Margaret Newman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Dracula
Keywords: reflections in mirrors
Date: 16 Nov 92 20:38:28 GMT

I have a question on vampires not having a reflection in mirrors.  Wouldn't
their clothes, hats, etc... show?  Or is it easier in film (movies, tv)
to just not show the entire person clothing and all?  This has always
puzzled me.  I think the clothing would show up, only the body would lack
a reflection.

margaret@cs.arizona.edu





Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: canderso@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chuck Anderson)
Subject: Re: Anthony Hopkins
Reply-To: canderso@nyx.UUCP (Chuck Anderson)
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 23:03:32 GMT

> vaughanj@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Jake Vaughan) writes:

>Anthony Hopkins was excellent in "Bounty", a movie about the book, _Mutiny on the Bounty_.  It's the one with Mel Gibson.  Great!!

Nitpick time.  One of the good things about "The Bounty" is that it is *not*
based on the book "Mutiny on the Bounty" (a very biased view of the Bounty
incident).  After seeing "Mutiny on the Bounty" (w/ Brando) a few months ago
I then watched "The Bounty."  The differences between them led me to the
library where I found books about the actual events surrounding the Bounty
"incident."  It's fascinating stuff.  The history of Pitcairn's island is
very interesting, too.  Paradise gone to hell.

Anyway, "The Bounty" does a good job of presenting a most balanced view of
this incident.  Capt. Bligh was a hero having sailed a lifeboat 3,000
miles to the east Indies.  The line screamed by Fletcher in the middle of
the mutiny, "I am in HELL...!", is straight from the transcripts of the 
trials of Capt. Bligh and the mutineers who were returned from Tahiti later.

Nary a nit left.

--
  *************************************************************************
     Chuck Anderson                uucp    :         uunet!nyx!canderso
     Boulder, Co. (303) 494-6278   internet:         canderso@nyx.cs.du.edu
  *************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: fehr@ms.uky.edu (Jeff Davis)
Subject: Re: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT (SPOILERS)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 19:09:12 GMT
Organization: Austerlitz, Gershovitz, and Carmichael

marc.colten writes:
>
>A lot of bad people have been dead a long time, and many attempts have
>been made to sanitize their images - that doesn't mean we have to
>accept it.  I'm not judging the film but the story - which has been
>adequately publisized. Unlike the Christian Fundamentalists you mention
>I am not condemning studio heads or even Robert Redford for making
>a skin deep movie.  I am condeming the story line - which is so
>obviously different from the ugly reality McLean didn't choose to
>face, or to allow the world to see.
>
Should all art be about ugly realities?
There's a couple of lines from a Wallace Stevens poem that goes
something like this:

   Have it your way/The world is ugly/and the people are sad

Room for all sorts of things in art.
-- 
Jeff Davis <davis@keats.ca.uky.edu> My bad.
From: spongebo@cithara.uucp (THE EYE-BALL KID)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Stranger in a S.L./Re: Dune - speilberg lucas?????
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 92 19:21:47 EST
Organization: Local Testbed for network mail, we trust!

mattm@apple.com (Matthew Melmon) writes:

> In article <1992Nov13.184714.6921@risky.ecs.umass.edu>,
> giovin@medr3.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo) wrote:
> 
> > I agree with most of your comments, but really, there are more difficult
> > books to adapt than Lord of the Rings. 
> 
> Lord of the Rings would be *impossible* to adapt to the screen.  The
> ponderous size of the work would prohibit a complete telling, and
> anything less would be attacked viciously by a *huge* body of fans
> (as the animated attempt was; and, as Dune was).  And the overwhelming
> number of characters would be daunting.  I believe that Dune could
> have been very successfully told using just Paul and Jessica as
> male lead/female lead.  Lord of the Rings has no such combo. 


Actually, I think BOTH might be adapted, but to the "small screen" -- ie, 
TV Miniseries. SPFX Technology is getting cheaper faster, so you never 
know...

But what might be REALLY interesting is the Stephen R Donaldson series 
(The Thomas Covenant Chronicals?). 2400 pages... Four hours each book, 
twenty four hours of.... AAAAAAAAAAGH!

Spongebo - THE EYE-BALL KID (:::::-)

spongebo%cithara@comback.login.qc.ca
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: kjetilgr@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Granlien)
Subject: Re: Jurassic Park
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 12:53:14 GMT
Originator: kjetilgr@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no


... and did we know that Industrial Light & Magic is doing the effects?

You do know if you didn't.. and if you did, but that is beside the point.. 

Kjetil Granlien
---
 "Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
  And deep beneath the rolling waves
  In labyrinth of coral caves
  The echoes of a distant time comes willowing across the sand.."
						PinkFloyd, Echoes
---
From: phd85@seq1.keele.ac.uk (D.H. Holden)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: DRACULA's Dr. Seward(Richard E. Grant)
Date: 18 Nov 92 18:06:07 GMT
Organization: Keele University, England

From article <1992Nov18.000121.8075@galileo.cc.rochester.edu>, by ieng_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (innlingeng):
> Can someone please email me the section of the Actor's List for
> Richard E. Grant?  I know I have seen him in L.A. Story, but I
> would like to know what other films he has been in, and if anyone
> knows of any information on him.  Has anyone caught him in any
> TV interviews?  It is a good thing to mix in more British actors in
> American films, e.g. Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins in Dracula...
> and other films that I wont rack my brain to name.
> 
> Well, thanks...       
> 
> InnLing Eng
> ieng_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu

	 He was in a film about an advertising executive that has a boil
	 on his shoulder that takes over his entire body and eventually
	 becomes him. Extremely funny! Also has a message about the money
	 grabbing eighties.
			  Dave.

--
                                                                     

phd85@uk.ac.keele.seq1
keele university.
From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: Dracula:Sheesh, what a film
Date: 20 Nov 92 19:28:15 GMT
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
Organization: Stratus Computer Inc, Marlboro MA
NNTP-Posting-Host: gondolin.pubs.stratus.com

In article <3218@nlsun1.oracle.nl> gbradley@uks240.Berkeley.EDU (Gary  
Bradley) writes:
>     I think most folks interested in the Dracula myth KNOW that,  
just
> please tell me that Coppola is not suggesting that Vlad Dracul (the
> factual person) somehow becomes Count Dracula (the fiction) in the
> movie. I.e. please tell me that Vlad Tepes does NOT appear in the  
film.
> That would just be too pathetic!
> 

I could tell you that, but it would be lying.

Why is it pathetic?  It actually works rather well.

--
Jim Mann            
Stratus Computer   jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
From: gt9398b@prism.gatech.EDU (Christopher R. Boggs)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Re: spike lee &  boston celtics
Date: 19 Nov 92 04:25:52 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology


>By the way, if people are skipping his films because they don't like
>Lee personally, you are missing some very good films.  Regardless of
>whether you agree with him, Lee is a talented filmmaker whose films 
>don't resemble anyone else's.  There is strong artistic merit in Lee's
>films, and those serious about film are making a mistake if they skip
>his films.
>
    Spike Lee is simply increasing the paranoia over "racism". Movies such
as his do nothing but make people paranoid and look for "racism". And when
you are paranoid about it to the extent that American public is, you tend to
see it everywhere you look. He is doing _nothing_ to help fight "racism", but
at the same time, he is making tons of money by using it as a vehicle for his
own personal gain. The only reason he is so "well liked" is that he happened
to come along at a point in time when his brand of propaganda has been whole
heartedly embraced. In my opinion, its sad and he is doing more harm than good.

-Chris


-- 
[]==========================================================================[]
 |     Christopher R. Boggs, MGT Major, Georgia Institute of Technology     |
 |    "Death is life's way of telling you that you've been fired." -Anon    |
[]==========================================================================[]
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
From: redrum@carson.u.washington.edu (Joe Stremick)
Subject: Re: BSD (Dracula) - Who to root for? (SPOILERS)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 00:18:59 GMT

In article <1e8ounINNg15@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>on such intellectual terms.  
>
>By the way, there have been other complaints other than the
>ones you mentioned. I liked the film, but thought it was
>flawed for several reasons:
>
>-- Coppola's pacing is off. The movie seems to drag in parts.
>-- Van Helsing is all wrong, particularly when he seems to 
>   be used for comic relief. In these cases, he comes off as 
>   plain silly. ("No, I don't want to perform an autopsy. I just
>   want to take out her heart and cut off her head."  A rather
>   dumb line to utter, when you are trying to convince several
>   very upset people of the necessity of performing an illogical
>   and seemingly insensitive act.)

	Perhaps the way the line is delivered is at fault, but
this line is in the book.
>By the way, whoever complained about the number of form changes had
>a valid point, for a very important reason. You're right that
>in the older movies, Dracula also changes form a lot. However,
>in those, the possible extent of these changes are defined (as
>are the rest of Dracula's powers).  In Coppola's film, the
>extent of these powers are not defined. We don't have Van Hesling
>(as he did in the book and in the Lugosi film) explain that
>the vampire can appear as mist, as a bat, as a wolf, etc. Thus,
>the audience is left with the feeling that he can change to
>any old form he wants to, which hurts the realism. Fantasy works
>best when the powers of the character (supernatural or not) are
>known, so that he can't just pull another rabbit out of his hat.

	Didn't you hear Van Helsing say all these things?  I've
heard a lot of complaints about lack of narrative concerning
this film, but I think it was all there; just a little more
subtle than usual.  I liked this a lot, as it made the film
more thought-provoking, rather than hitting the audience over
the head with explicit narrative so that it is no longer
interesting.


|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-Joe Stremick,               |"I'm Luke Skywalker;                    |
|       a.k.a. Redrum         |               I'm here to rescue you." |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|