tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post2922207859466570727..comments2023-10-11T03:42:59.033-07:00Comments on The Criterion Contraption: 107: Mona LisaMatthew Dessemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-86092273739052226882012-06-12T04:02:46.787-07:002012-06-12T04:02:46.787-07:00The one person edpilldgb.com who's glad to see...The one person <a href="http://edpilldgb.com" rel="nofollow">edpilldgb.com</a> who's glad to see him is his friend Thomas, played by Robbie Coltrane.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-10965627934802367042011-12-16T04:47:14.287-08:002011-12-16T04:47:14.287-08:00Here, I do not actually consider this will have su...Here, I do not actually consider this will have success.<br /><a href="http://www.howtosellhome.com" rel="nofollow">how to sell home</a> | <a href="http://www.secretarysexvideo.com" rel="nofollow">secretary sex video</a> | <a href="http://www.startattoos.ca" rel="nofollow">star tattoos</a>Noelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-47195945831510532262011-06-10T02:12:29.286-07:002011-06-10T02:12:29.286-07:00Thank you for the link and the commentary about th...Thank you for the link and the commentary about the visual aspect of my site. I have the Criterion Contraption on my links and link's guide as well.Christianhttp://classicosuniversais.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-49479882868247942602011-06-09T23:37:59.608-07:002011-06-09T23:37:59.608-07:00Christian,
Thanks so much for such a flattering c...Christian,<br /><br />Thanks so much for such a flattering comment, which somehow got caught in Blogger's spam filter. I paged around your very impressive site the first time you linked to mine, and although I don't read Portuguese, I think it's really impressive visually (and obviously I'm all for being didactic...). I'm really glad to hear that my site helped you figure Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-55887823341700901542011-06-09T23:29:22.339-07:002011-06-09T23:29:22.339-07:00I-dream-lo-tech,
Thanks! I don't think Mona ...I-dream-lo-tech,<br /><br />Thanks! I don't think <em>Mona Lisa</em> will disappoint you.Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-73126190782220312442011-06-09T23:28:47.115-07:002011-06-09T23:28:47.115-07:00Biscuit,
I envy you seeing this on film; the Crit...Biscuit,<br /><br />I envy you seeing this on film; the Criterion DVD is a pretty muddy transfer. And yeah, that line's a heartbreaker.Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-6939925530555073832011-06-09T23:27:44.300-07:002011-06-09T23:27:44.300-07:00Benjamin,
The way to write about The Rock, it tur...Benjamin,<br /><br />The way to write about <em>The Rock</em>, it turned out, was to not spend too much time on Bay's place in the culture and look at how he does what he does. And now on to <em>The Scarlett Empress</em>, which I love.Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-18905505827619242592011-06-09T23:25:58.700-07:002011-06-09T23:25:58.700-07:00Hob,
"On the nose" is common (and usefu...Hob,<br /><br />"On the nose" is common (and useful) when talking about screenplays; I think it's bleeding into regular discourse from there; that's certainly where I picked it up. It's apt and easy to use when revising a script (and any time spent searching for a clever way to describe what's wrong with a scene is time I'd rather spend fixing the scen itself). But Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-6619037208039869672011-06-07T12:15:25.601-07:002011-06-07T12:15:25.601-07:00Hi, Matthew!
I've been following your blog sin...Hi, Matthew!<br />I've been following your blog since I discovered it trough the Ebert's entry on The Passion of Joan of Arc. I'm a lazy commenter (and English isn't my first language), but now I decided to pay this little tribute.<br />I studied cinematography on my own for some time and I really wanted to make a blog or site to express my devotion towards the classics of cinema(Christianhttp://classicosuniversais.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-21410845676865966862011-05-26T13:04:46.246-07:002011-05-26T13:04:46.246-07:00Thanks for this post. I have yet to see "Mona...Thanks for this post. I have yet to see "Mona Lisa" but its now on my Netflix queue.<br /><br />Also wanted to affirm your great work, been following your posts for a for a few years now. <br /><br />CheersTon S. https://www.blogger.com/profile/10691201724230891974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-19741919963095718842011-05-16T06:25:43.796-07:002011-05-16T06:25:43.796-07:00I still remember seeing this in the cinema, and ac...I still remember seeing this in the cinema, and actually starting to cry when Hoskins's voice broke at that line. I even teared up reading it again, just now.Biscuithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09943228742048113256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-84740730762993353342011-05-10T09:56:42.804-07:002011-05-10T09:56:42.804-07:00Now this, this must have been a difficult film to ...Now this, this must have been a difficult film to review. <br />Major props, it's very well thought-out.<br /><br />By the way, I just noticed the next spine number in the collection is, uh-oh, The Rock... <br />I'd recommend skipping on ahead to The Scarlet Empress and M-Hulot's Holiday but I guess that would be betraying the very same principles your blog is founded on. So best of BenjamÃnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13678369608042322349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-52328462687309438722011-04-19T20:09:19.813-07:002011-04-19T20:09:19.813-07:00Wonderful review/essay, as usual.
Minor grouse: I...Wonderful review/essay, as usual.<br /><br />Minor grouse: I'd like to call for a voluntary general moratorium on the phrase "on the nose." Something happened in the last year or two so that I'm now seeing those words in something like half the reviews I read. There must be other ways of describing a lack of subtlety.Hobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09277940177708996676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-54229772888983629012011-04-11T23:48:41.169-07:002011-04-11T23:48:41.169-07:00Tom,
You're on to something with Life of Bria...Tom,<br /><br />You're on to something with <em>Life of Brian</em>, I bet--if Harrison didn't like swinging dicks in movies he must have hated that scene. And you're completely right re: kitchen sink melodramas and I may revise a sentence or two to include that observation. <br /><br />Re: Mortwell, it's a fair point, but I do think that character has to have an evil-wizard-likeMatthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-47504439957527586522011-04-11T23:42:32.383-07:002011-04-11T23:42:32.383-07:00Legato,
I appreciate the discipline it takes to w...Legato,<br /><br />I appreciate the discipline it takes to write a movie where everything is from a single character's perspective. The wife/daughter subplot is plenty creepy in the days of amber alerts but I wonder if it came across that way in 1986? Definitely a good call on Jordan's part to have the daughter be so self-possessed (more than Cathy or any of the other prostitutes).Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-7878126092423184722011-04-11T23:39:54.442-07:002011-04-11T23:39:54.442-07:00Jack,
And yet, less ham fisted than the glowing p...Jack,<br /><br />And yet, less ham fisted than the glowing plastic madonna statues in Thomas's garage!Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-30701180972797456992011-04-11T23:39:00.228-07:002011-04-11T23:39:00.228-07:00Le Ted,
That's awesome that you met Clarke Pe...Le Ted,<br /><br />That's awesome that you met Clarke Peters. & yeah, this is pretty much a dry run for <em>The Crying Game</em> in a lot of ways, I think.Matthew Dessemhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288268335735601918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-18416145597888005592011-04-09T16:10:24.215-07:002011-04-09T16:10:24.215-07:00Also, I wonder if Harrison's "no naked di...Also, I wonder if Harrison's "no naked dicks" was a response to to the absurdly gratuitous full frontal part of Life of BrianTomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00521395530302258154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-85625453898196158452011-04-09T12:14:37.753-07:002011-04-09T12:14:37.753-07:00You mentioned how perfect the casting in this movi...You mentioned how perfect the casting in this movie is, but that's a point that could be emphasized more strongly- Hoskins is _amazing_, a sort of Archie Bunker character (or I guess, since this is English, an Alf Garnett character) who is nonetheless entirely convincing when he beats people down- the rage that comes out of him is terrifying. <br /><br />It's interesting to think of this Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00521395530302258154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-7786886737847267762011-04-09T01:21:08.234-07:002011-04-09T01:21:08.234-07:00This isn't really my favorite movie or one I e...This isn't really my favorite movie or one I even like all that much, can't stand Jordan for the most part, but there's one aspect that fascinates me entirely. Jordan has this amazing tendency to focus in on the POV of a character to the point where any opinion of or from the film is that character's. That sort of thing can absolutely ruin a movie like with The Brave One, but herelegatonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-46507871112554049162011-04-08T19:10:36.754-07:002011-04-08T19:10:36.754-07:00The glowing cross in the center of the shot of the...The glowing cross in the center of the shot of the young prostitute in bed is ham-fisted but sublime.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07539732409574047304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8796371.post-77056656103825088832011-04-08T18:40:53.030-07:002011-04-08T18:40:53.030-07:00This is quite possibly my favorite movie and I'...This is quite possibly my favorite movie and I've nothing to say, except that your review is excellent. You really chart the fantastical elements of the story in a way that I didn't consider. One could make a compelling argument linking this to some of Jordan's other films and his repeated interest in pretending/illusion, like <i>The Crying Game</i>. <br /><br />I wish Cathy Tyson Le Tedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05242378351959159148noreply@blogger.com