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Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:39 am
by Nothing
MichaelB wrote:I'm racking my brains trying to think which Luc Besson films (plural) he can possibly be referring to.
I assume he's referring to the Taxi series...
I do like Un Prophete, but his review is pretty funny, and more thought-provoking than most, esp. "Bourgeois ethnic guilt mutates into genre excitation; that’s how liberals get to project their fears and simultaneously jack themselves off." - heh.
p.s. Thanks for the tip-off on From Paris with Love, looking forward to it
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:55 am
by MichaelB
antnield wrote:MichaelB wrote:I'm racking my brains trying to think which Luc Besson films (plural) he can possibly be referring to. Subway springs to mind, but claiming that that exercise in superficial flashiness has "a sophisticated balance of first and third world empathies" - sophisticated anything, in fact - is a stretch even for Armond. So it must be something else - but what?
I'm guessing Armond is referring to the various Besson-scripted and/or -produced titles. He's previously gone giddy over the
Transporter movies and everything Pierre Morel has helmed. Most recently
From Paris With Love has been getting the, er, love.
I've betrayed my ignorance here - I've seen everything by Besson up to 1997 (he was one of the more reliable cash cows at the rep cinema I used to manage), but nothing since it ceased to be a professional obligation. But I haven't exactly been compelled to track
The Transporter down.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:28 am
by Nothing
MichaelB wrote:I haven't exactly been compelled to track The Transporter down.
A shame, Transporter 3 is particularly fine
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:32 pm
by colinr0380
He's probably also talking about
District 13 and its recent sequel
District 13: Ultimatum, combining the 'urban odd couple' format of the Taxi films with an Escape From New York/Mad Max premise and the parkour gimmick (which is more successfully used here than when it was shoehorned into films like Die Hard 4.0)
EDIT: Sorry - knives beat me to it!
Nothing wrote:MichaelB wrote:I haven't exactly been compelled to track The Transporter down.
A shame, Transporter 3 is particularly fine
They are quite fun films, especially the various pretexts used to get Jason Statham stripped to the waist and oiled up! The only way I can make sense of how the "sophisticated balance of first and third world empathies" quote comes about is maybe that the first Transporter deals with the practice of people smuggling. Though its rather a side issue to all the action!
SECOND EDIT: And I quite liked Danny The Dog, if only for the small, incongrous seeming scene of Jet Li and Morgan Freeman buying groceries together in a Glaswegian Spar shop!
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:44 pm
by Perkins Cobb
You have to admit, "resident window dresser for the Leonardo DiCaprio boutique" is a pretty good line, in a pretty sharp
review -- for once White's incessant referencing of other films aligns with a director who is openly doing the same thing.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 5:36 am
by HistoryProf
Perkins Cobb wrote:You have to admit, "resident window dresser for the Leonardo DiCaprio boutique" is a pretty good line, in a pretty sharp
review -- for once White's incessant referencing of other films aligns with a director who is openly doing the same thing.
and example #3881984 of why Armond is nothing but a troll:
Bringing Out the Dead (1999, Scorsese’s last decent film)
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:50 am
by Nothing
HistoryProf wrote:Bringing Out the Dead (1999, Scorsese’s last decent film)
One might instead say that he's made nothing better since...
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 12:31 pm
by Perkins Cobb
Yeah, that opinion is not unique to Armond ... although personally I'd put it at Gangs of New York.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:54 pm
by tenia
Couldn't agree with you more, Mr. White. Shutter Island desperately needed the visionary touch of a Olivier Megaton, the cinematic artistry of a Pierre Morel, the visual poetry of a Paul W.S. Anderson, the avant-garde genius of a Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, not to forget the finesse and expertise of a Luc Besson. Wouldn't have hurt to have Jason Statham in the lead role and Eddie Murphy portraying the rest of the characters Norbit-style either. Keep fighting the good fight, Mr. White.
=D>
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 5:20 pm
by Morbii
tenia wrote:Couldn't agree with you more, Mr. White. Shutter Island desperately needed the visionary touch of a Olivier Megaton, the cinematic artistry of a Pierre Morel, the visual poetry of a Paul W.S. Anderson, the avant-garde genius of a Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, not to forget the finesse and expertise of a Luc Besson. Wouldn't have hurt to have Jason Statham in the lead role and Eddie Murphy portraying the rest of the characters Norbit-style either. Keep fighting the good fight, Mr. White.
=D>
My favorite part of that has to be the "visual poetry of a Paul W.S. Anderson". Hah!
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:46 pm
by davebert
On the other hand, being on the other side of an Armond slobberfest feels kinda good...
http://www.nypress.com/article-20975-gr ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Now I face the ethical dilemma of whether to excerpt for ads. Is that like pulling a Shawn Edwards?
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:39 am
by Fiery Angel
This open letter to movie reviewers is making the internet rounds (thanks to PG):
You may not have heard that Armond White has been blackballed by Focus Features at the request of Noah Baumbach and his producer Scott Rudin from seeing Noah's latest "masterpiece" GREENBERG. [Noah, maybe you should make better films. Scott, go throw a cellphone at some PA you thin-skinned pussy.]
Some of you may think that Armond is a pretentious pompous fool who has no idea what he's talking about, but he is still a fellow film critic. [Hail Todd McCarthy, fired by Variety today so they can save some shekels.]
Publicists are akin to Nazis. Remember what Hitler said, "Who remembers the Armenians?" As publicists blacklist each of us one by one we will be left with the Paul Wunders of the 21st Century aka blogger hacks who can't spell or write a comprehensive sentence.
I suggest we all do three things:
1. DO NOT review Greenberg, if you are ordered to by your superior make a reference to the Gestapo tactics of the distributor, filmmaker and producer.
2. Complain directly to the President of Focus Features, James Schamus who prides himself on being a writer and supporter of the written word. This is his email address:
[email protected]
3. Write directly to Scott Rudin and tell him you will not review any of his upcoming films.
Scott Rudin Productions
120 West 45th Street
10th Floor
New York, NY 10036-4041
(212) 704-4600
Maureen Battaglia - Internship Coordinator
[email protected]
Upcoming Films: Margaret (Fox Searchlight), The Social Network (Columbia - 10/15)
Hail the First Amendment. Fuck the talentless hacks.
Film Critic 1138
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:41 am
by knives
If someone wished death on my mum I wouldn't let them get a free screening of a movie I made either.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:15 am
by Mr Sausage
I don't understand where people got the idea that they'll make their points better by comparing innocuous things with Nazism. This should be obvious, but not a single person told Armond White what he could and could not write or think. What they told him is that he could not attend a studio-hosted private screening. Anyone who thinks that qualifies as "gestapo tactics" should be locked in a room with people who actually were oppressed and abused by the gestapo and then yelled at for two hours for cheapening their suffering.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:15 am
by tenia
Goodwin point. :-"
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:20 am
by bottled spider
"... or write a comprehensive sentence"
Stupid people, they're so cute.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:31 am
by Napoleon
Some of you may think that Armond is a pretentious pompous fool who has no idea what he's talking about, but he is still a fellow film critic.
White hasn't been anything of the sort for at least 5 years. Every week he drags his profession down further.
To keep the Nazi theme going, critics supporting him is akin to research scientists supporting Mengele.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:22 am
by HistoryProf
knives wrote:If someone wished death on my mum I wouldn't let them get a free screening of a movie I made either.
i thought it was that noah's mom should have aborted
him.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:36 am
by domino harvey
How can I send Noah Baumbach a Thank You Card?
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:27 pm
by Brian C
DO NOT review Greenberg, if you are ordered to by your superior make a reference to the Gestapo tactics of the distributor, filmmaker and producer.
I can see no way in which this plan could possibly fail. I mean, the logic is perfect:
1) Rant at your boss about Nazis.
2) ????
3) Baumbach FAIL!!!!!
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:33 pm
by Antoine Doinel
That internership coordinator is going to get some of the most fascinating emails ever.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:55 pm
by HarryLong
Or maybe none at all...
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:42 pm
by HistoryProf
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:02 pm
by Andre Jurieu
It's astounding to me how people can constantly whine about their 1st amendment rights being trampled upon, but they never want to deal with the inevitable consequences of totally disregarding basic decency while exercising their 1st amendment rights.
It's tough to perceive White as an adult, since he frequently exhibits himself to have the general disposition of an adolescent. What exactly did he expect would happen after he publicly states that Georgia Brown should have had an abortion? Did he expect Baumbach to just brush that off with a casual "oh, that ol' Armond White, with all his wacky comments"-type dismissal?
I still don't even understand how White can claim to be an outsider to the elitist NY-critics society and then constantly get so upset when they don't embrace him. Shouldn't he actually accept this form of rejection as a badge of honour that would further enhance his outcast status? It's like he believes he should be granted total immunity from the results of his actions.
Re: The Armond White Thread
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:26 pm
by aox
umm, how would that have been a 1st amendment issue? Did the person making that claim not get pass their 3rd grade civics/government class?