JPinMaryland
07-26-2006, 11:24 PM
I see this movie is on TCM tonight and since I've never seen I might as well. It occasionally pops on these "100 greatest movies" lists (as does M*A*S*H)but I wonder how good it really is. Is this really Altman's finest work which I see quite a few of his fans claim?
I like the movie MASH a lot but I dont think I can say it is one of the 100 best movies. The most cogent criticism is that the football game breaks out in the last 45 min. and breaks all the continuity, the thematic elements are gone, there is no hospital, no war and Sally Kellerman suddenly becomes a cheerleader for this cast she despises! Like the movie alot, very groundbreaking, but it comes up short on the whole. If maybe the football scene was in the middle of the film and about 15 min. cut from it. Then finish the movie w/ Frank Burns arrested; or finish w/ HoJohn in Seoul, or something...
Same thing w/ Apocalypse Now. Roger Ebert, who I like, put this movie as the best Vietnam movie, but the last 45 min. is utter bollocks. Just Brando muttering "the horror, the horror". I dont care how neat or how groundbreaking a movie is, if you cant finish a story in 45 min time block, it cant be that great.
Raging Bull is on after that. Which Ebert thought the greatest movie of the 1980s and this sort of judgement seems to be repeated on websites everywhere. It's good but if it's just for the violence then all those gangster movies, especially w/ Pesci are even better.
I like the movie MASH a lot but I dont think I can say it is one of the 100 best movies. The most cogent criticism is that the football game breaks out in the last 45 min. and breaks all the continuity, the thematic elements are gone, there is no hospital, no war and Sally Kellerman suddenly becomes a cheerleader for this cast she despises! Like the movie alot, very groundbreaking, but it comes up short on the whole. If maybe the football scene was in the middle of the film and about 15 min. cut from it. Then finish the movie w/ Frank Burns arrested; or finish w/ HoJohn in Seoul, or something...
Same thing w/ Apocalypse Now. Roger Ebert, who I like, put this movie as the best Vietnam movie, but the last 45 min. is utter bollocks. Just Brando muttering "the horror, the horror". I dont care how neat or how groundbreaking a movie is, if you cant finish a story in 45 min time block, it cant be that great.
Raging Bull is on after that. Which Ebert thought the greatest movie of the 1980s and this sort of judgement seems to be repeated on websites everywhere. It's good but if it's just for the violence then all those gangster movies, especially w/ Pesci are even better.