Cronenberg
 

The "Recommend me a movie thread" reminds me I don't get Cronenberg's praises. I think his films lack subtlety in the imagery, the way themes like violence or sex are treated, and the actors' directing and dialogues.

Am I the only one to think that way (I know many people love him here) ?

I personally much prefer the way John Carpenter deals with all of those themes. He's ok but I'm not a huge fan of his.

Cronenberg is amazing, probably the best and most consistent director of our generation, even moreso than David Lynch (though Lynch is more interesting and better overall because he has explored many different mediums -- cartoons, comics, books -- and succeeded in every way). He's definitely my favorite non-Japanese director. He explores themes that most directors wouldn't touch -- and he directs in such a cold, focused, and direct way. He films the unfilmable and expresses the unexpressable. And The Dead Zone is one of the only films ever to make me cry. And Dead Ringers.. man... what a fucking film. I like that his films don't get marred down by scenes... everything fits, everything flows well, and none of his films are overly indulgent. Well, okay, Naked Lunch is a little bit -- but just the fact that he filmed Naked fucking Lunch is remarkable.

His films are bizarre in that, even in his "mainstream" ones (Scanners, The Fly, the last couple of films he did), they still offer plenty of food for thought, he doesn't dumb anything down.

I noticed in the other thread that you like Sofia Coppola's "lost in translation" and "virgin suicides"... what's odd is that they are filmed in a very deliberate, cold, detached style, which is what Cronenberg is known for. Obviously, they don't explore any similiar themes, but I find it kind of funny. You were right, by the way, Eyes Wide Shut sucks ass.

Anyway, since I'll never get a chance to again, ranking Cronenberg films now...

1. Videodrome
2. The Dead Zone
3. Dead Ringers
4. Crash
5. Eastern Promises
6. The Brood
7. Naked Lunch
8. The Fly
9. History of Violence
10. Shivers
11. Rabid
12. M. Butterfly
13. Spider
14. Scanners
15. Existenz

Something weird I've noticed is that a lot of his films end with gun violence. Even though he doesn't really have any action films, a gun usually comes into play at the end of his films. Just something weird to note.

Regarding John Carpenter, he's also made some of my favorite films. "They Live", "Big Trouble in Little China", and "In the Mouth of Madness" are amongst my favorite film.

i need to see more carpenter and croneberg. i have seen dead ringers and videodrome. both were excellent. i can definatly see what you mean by the emotional detachment in his movies, but oi find that to be interesting.
i have only seen carpenters halloween which did not impress me much

the thing with him the way i see it is that he does not attempt to make movies that look "real"-- they are very theatrical, always-- that's a stylistic choice and that is a good thing, in my mind. it says to me "you're entering an altered state of mind", not "this could happen in your neighborhood". if you want him doing subtletly, look at spider, but that's my least favorite movie of his.

i think the guy is fucking brilliant. he's like nobody else.

I am not a big fan of horror movies. my horror loving friends love them some Cronenberg though.

ace director, i can't praise him enough.

Cronenberg has only made two horror movies (Shivers and Rabid). One could argue the Fly as a horror movie but that's about it.

Shivers isn't scary, just very creepy.

My favourite director.

i don't think cronenberg's horror is everyone elses "horror"

i'd say not just the fly but scanners is horror, so is the brood, and while videodrome is not classic horror, how else would you classify it if you had to? fear, paranoia, violence & gore-- the stuff of horror. it's just not retarded shit but there's a side of horror in all/most his movies.

He's psychologically frightening. His movies mess with your head in a weird way.

funny this thread happened as i just saw videodrome for the first time last night... i definitely like me some cronenberg... history of violence might be one of my favorites ever...

history of violence was very very good

i do like cronenburg for sure but i also find his films quite depressing in many ways. i mean they leave me feeling sad afterwards for some reason.

history of violence was incredibly meh.

i had to double check that it was actually a cronenberg film.

oh it was fucking good, fucking good--

that fight scene in the bath was pure fucking cronenberg, come on.

he got his inspiration, he said, from the televised beheadings. his point was that tv violence makes shit "easy" whereas in real life killing a person is hard & brutal work.

great movie, i loved it.

in eastern promises?

eastern promise i really want to see.

fuck yeah-- the body, coming undone-- that's like his signature