Ghost dog
08-10-00, 09:00 PM
#1
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Damn. i loved this movie.. must say that the dvd was very nice IMO. i liked it a lot.. very very nice indeed. thequalitty was great. i would recommand it to anyone on the forum for atleast one viewing.
08-10-00, 09:54 PM
#2
New Member
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A second opinion...if anyone cares.
HIGH NOON IN HOKKAIDO
“Like Kurosawa I make mad films,
Okay, I don’t make films,
But if I did they’d have a samurai.”
- Barenaked Ladies
One part gunslinger. One part exotic bad-ass. The samurai is just one notch short of a ninja on the movie scale of coolness. Of course, their image has been altered a bit since Akira Kurosawa first introduced the world to Japanese cinema with “Rashomon” in 1950. Later “Yojimbo” was twisted into a “Fistful of Dollars”...”Seven Samurai” became the “Magnificent Seven.” But transposing these Eastern warriors into a Western setting never quite captured the mystery inherent beneath those white robes and pony-tails.
Director Jim Jarmusch is an unconventional director who loves to put a spin on conventional genres - the jail break (“Down by Law”), the Western (“Dead Man”), and now the gangster flick. “Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai”, borrows a few Coppola cliches to lay the mobster ground work then invents a scattershot plot that feeds off idiosyncratic characters and intermittent gunfire. Sorry, no throwing stars, though.
Structured around ancient samurai proverbs, “Ghost Dog” follows its character of the same name (as in Snoop Doggy) played with solemn sullenness by Forest Whitaker. Ghost Dog has vowed his allegiance to a middle-management gangster, Louie (John Tormey), in return for saving his life a few years back. Bound by the samurai code (by choice, not heritage), Ghost Dog works as Louie’s contract killer until a job goes bad, whereupon the tables turn. With a price on his head and more than a few guns in his briefcase, Ghost Dog must knock off an entire gangster family before they get him first.
The synopsis as written reeks of B-movie delight. But Jarmusch, unlike much of the art house crowd, knows how to string an audience along - nursing the action just enough to keep your eyes occupied, then sneaking in his hidden agenda while your back is turned. Exactly what that agenda is remains a bit of a mystery. In an medium where ambiguity is often mistaken for art, Jarmusch operates in some fourth dimension where up is down, right is left, but everything is somehow still amusingly familiar.
The film jumps from the deadpan comedy of Louie’s moronic gangster family to the hypno-hallucinogenic rituals of Ghost Dog as he prepares for each hit (although watching the 50-plus pounds overweight Whitaker swing his sword Tai-Chi style probably still qualifies as comedy). The jokes, though, seem forced (like one white gangster’s penchant for the rhymes of Flavor-Flav) and the overall casual quirkiness detracts from Whitaker’s emphatic philosophies.
For the layman, James Bond gadgets abound - like a remote control that disarms and jump starts any car - and the action sequences are smoothly carried out (particularly a nifty shot that takes advantage of some plumbing). But the real events and characters exist apart from all this action: Ghost Dog’s best friend, the local ice-cream man (Isaach de Bankole’) who doesn’t speak a word of english...and Pearline (Camille Winbush), the little girl next door with a voracious appetite for books.
“Ghost Dog”, the movie, straddles the independent’s intelligence and Hollywood’s conventions - wetting your appetite for destruction then clamming up for minutes on end. There is a zen-like rhythm that evolves half-way through, but the violent expectations can lead early frustration. Here is a hit man equally at home peering through cross-hairs or flipping though a tattered copy of “Rashomon.” Like the novel, Jarmusch creates six lives, bouncing characters off one another until the inevitable “High Noon” conclusion where Western mythology meets Eastern philosophy and someone eats hot lead.
(“Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” opens at the Tower April 21st)
GRADE: C+
HIGH NOON IN HOKKAIDO
“Like Kurosawa I make mad films,
Okay, I don’t make films,
But if I did they’d have a samurai.”
- Barenaked Ladies
One part gunslinger. One part exotic bad-ass. The samurai is just one notch short of a ninja on the movie scale of coolness. Of course, their image has been altered a bit since Akira Kurosawa first introduced the world to Japanese cinema with “Rashomon” in 1950. Later “Yojimbo” was twisted into a “Fistful of Dollars”...”Seven Samurai” became the “Magnificent Seven.” But transposing these Eastern warriors into a Western setting never quite captured the mystery inherent beneath those white robes and pony-tails.
Director Jim Jarmusch is an unconventional director who loves to put a spin on conventional genres - the jail break (“Down by Law”), the Western (“Dead Man”), and now the gangster flick. “Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai”, borrows a few Coppola cliches to lay the mobster ground work then invents a scattershot plot that feeds off idiosyncratic characters and intermittent gunfire. Sorry, no throwing stars, though.
Structured around ancient samurai proverbs, “Ghost Dog” follows its character of the same name (as in Snoop Doggy) played with solemn sullenness by Forest Whitaker. Ghost Dog has vowed his allegiance to a middle-management gangster, Louie (John Tormey), in return for saving his life a few years back. Bound by the samurai code (by choice, not heritage), Ghost Dog works as Louie’s contract killer until a job goes bad, whereupon the tables turn. With a price on his head and more than a few guns in his briefcase, Ghost Dog must knock off an entire gangster family before they get him first.
The synopsis as written reeks of B-movie delight. But Jarmusch, unlike much of the art house crowd, knows how to string an audience along - nursing the action just enough to keep your eyes occupied, then sneaking in his hidden agenda while your back is turned. Exactly what that agenda is remains a bit of a mystery. In an medium where ambiguity is often mistaken for art, Jarmusch operates in some fourth dimension where up is down, right is left, but everything is somehow still amusingly familiar.
The film jumps from the deadpan comedy of Louie’s moronic gangster family to the hypno-hallucinogenic rituals of Ghost Dog as he prepares for each hit (although watching the 50-plus pounds overweight Whitaker swing his sword Tai-Chi style probably still qualifies as comedy). The jokes, though, seem forced (like one white gangster’s penchant for the rhymes of Flavor-Flav) and the overall casual quirkiness detracts from Whitaker’s emphatic philosophies.
For the layman, James Bond gadgets abound - like a remote control that disarms and jump starts any car - and the action sequences are smoothly carried out (particularly a nifty shot that takes advantage of some plumbing). But the real events and characters exist apart from all this action: Ghost Dog’s best friend, the local ice-cream man (Isaach de Bankole’) who doesn’t speak a word of english...and Pearline (Camille Winbush), the little girl next door with a voracious appetite for books.
“Ghost Dog”, the movie, straddles the independent’s intelligence and Hollywood’s conventions - wetting your appetite for destruction then clamming up for minutes on end. There is a zen-like rhythm that evolves half-way through, but the violent expectations can lead early frustration. Here is a hit man equally at home peering through cross-hairs or flipping though a tattered copy of “Rashomon.” Like the novel, Jarmusch creates six lives, bouncing characters off one another until the inevitable “High Noon” conclusion where Western mythology meets Eastern philosophy and someone eats hot lead.
(“Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” opens at the Tower April 21st)
GRADE: C+
08-12-00, 09:06 PM
#3
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
At the end of the "Ghost Dog" credits, Jarmusch dedicates the film to Jean Pierre Melville, Seijin Suzuki, and Akira Kurusawa.
I noticed that the character Ghost Dog is a loner & man of few words, and wears white film editing gloves when on hits just like the hit man in Melville's "Le Samourai." The film is also filmed with a desaturated look & a lot of steely blues like "Le Samourai." The character, Ghost Dog, is a hit man being stalked by other hit man just like the the hit man in Suzuki's "Branded to Kill." Finally there are references to the disparate realities apparent in Kurusawa's "Rashoman," and between the Ghost Dog character and Tushiro Mifune's character in "Yojimbo" and Kurusawa's other samourai films.
I've seen lots of films in my days & I'm sure I missed other references. Jarmusch, himself mentions that like the hip-hop soundtrack for the movie, this film takes different elements, from literature & films and film genre's -- the Western, Film Noir,Samourai, etc.-- and creates someting wholly distinct.
I'm sorry, but this film deserves much more than a C+, (see the previous reply). Along with Croupier, IMHO, this is the best film released in the States this year.* Cheers, Tony Block
* Croupier was actually released in Britain & Germany in '97, & Ghost Dog was released in France & Japan in'99.
------------------
Tony Block
I noticed that the character Ghost Dog is a loner & man of few words, and wears white film editing gloves when on hits just like the hit man in Melville's "Le Samourai." The film is also filmed with a desaturated look & a lot of steely blues like "Le Samourai." The character, Ghost Dog, is a hit man being stalked by other hit man just like the the hit man in Suzuki's "Branded to Kill." Finally there are references to the disparate realities apparent in Kurusawa's "Rashoman," and between the Ghost Dog character and Tushiro Mifune's character in "Yojimbo" and Kurusawa's other samourai films.
I've seen lots of films in my days & I'm sure I missed other references. Jarmusch, himself mentions that like the hip-hop soundtrack for the movie, this film takes different elements, from literature & films and film genre's -- the Western, Film Noir,Samourai, etc.-- and creates someting wholly distinct.
I'm sorry, but this film deserves much more than a C+, (see the previous reply). Along with Croupier, IMHO, this is the best film released in the States this year.* Cheers, Tony Block
* Croupier was actually released in Britain & Germany in '97, & Ghost Dog was released in France & Japan in'99.
------------------
Tony Block
08-12-00, 09:42 PM
#4
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
man.. loved your guys discriptions. but i would give way higher then a C+ it was one hell of a great movie.
08-12-00, 10:13 PM
#5
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hey Jack,
I said it deserves much higher than a C+. I was responding to the Spaceman's previous reply in the thread. It, and Croupier, are my favorite films of 2000. I saw Ghost Dog 3 times at my local theatre & the DVD is in the mail on the way to my house as we speak. I would give it an A++. Cheers, Tony Block
I said it deserves much higher than a C+. I was responding to the Spaceman's previous reply in the thread. It, and Croupier, are my favorite films of 2000. I saw Ghost Dog 3 times at my local theatre & the DVD is in the mail on the way to my house as we speak. I would give it an A++. Cheers, Tony Block
08-14-00, 02:04 PM
#6
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: I was here but I disappear
Posts: 8,407
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Excellent and mysterious film. Just got my shipping notice. Can't wait.
------------------
My DVDs
You know you want buskerdog.com -- T-shirts and stuff
------------------
My DVDs
You know you want buskerdog.com -- T-shirts and stuff
08-15-00, 05:13 AM
#8
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
i stand behind it.. i loved this movie. great story. characters in it were well done. and i just loved the connection between the ice cream vendor and ghost dog
08-15-00, 04:28 PM
#9
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Got my disk yesterday & it rocks. Great 16x9 transfer w/5.1 sound; an isolated score that sounds great; 20 minute documentary w/Jarmusch, Whittaker & the RZA; outtakes, 5 trailers, a cast & crew page for about 20 people involved with the film. THE TRANSFER LOOKS GREAAAT!!! Cheers, Tony Block
08-15-00, 05:19 PM
#10
Banned by request
I love how that review is much more positive than negative, and then gives it a C+. I've seen worse though, someone gives an album 3 stars and then in the review raves about how great the album is. Sometimes it seems like two seperate reviewers are working on each review.
------------------
"All arts can and must wait. They may even wait to live until after the artist is dead. Only the ridiculous costs of cinematography force it to instant success, so it is satisfied with being mere entertainment."
-Jean Cocteau
------------------
"All arts can and must wait. They may even wait to live until after the artist is dead. Only the ridiculous costs of cinematography force it to instant success, so it is satisfied with being mere entertainment."
-Jean Cocteau
08-16-00, 05:10 PM
#11
Cool New Member
Join Date: Aug 2000
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This movie is ok but not great...really worth only as a rental. Slow going in many parts and really nothing original or outstanding. Weak plot about hitman for Mob..does a hit for mob..then mob wants to eliminate the hitman...hitman doesn't like it...hitman hits the mobsters back....the end
08-16-00, 05:20 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: I was here but I disappear
Posts: 8,407
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ghost Dog is a vey thoughtful film and is about a hell of a lot more than that little plot point recap would lead you to believe. I don't have time to go into my read on the film now but the film is very smart.
------------------
My DVDs
You know you want buskerdog.com -- T-shirts and stuff
------------------
My DVDs
You know you want buskerdog.com -- T-shirts and stuff
08-17-00, 04:58 AM
#13
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
one title that sure as hell surprised the hell out of me. it was a great movie, the plot line is much more then that. human involvement. and thought provoking all the way through.
08-17-00, 05:22 AM
#14
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: MN
Posts: 1,558
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just got finished giving this one a spin. Great film IMO. For those of you that don't have it yet and want it. It's on sale for $15.99 at Best Buy this week.
------------------
-Brian
Since the universe is curved, there cannot be any truly straight answers.
My constantly growing list of DVD's
My War Films Site - filmbunker.com
------------------
-Brian
Since the universe is curved, there cannot be any truly straight answers.
My constantly growing list of DVD's
My War Films Site - filmbunker.com
08-17-00, 06:08 PM
#15
Member
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think its 15.99 at best buy right now. I think I might pick it up, but I'm not sure...
I haven't seen it, but from what I can understand, it seems that the director has his heart in the right place.
I'm certainly intrigued here... but I don't know if I'm that intrigued...
------------------
Charles Mingus is alive
and
Alice Coltrane is your mother.
I haven't seen it, but from what I can understand, it seems that the director has his heart in the right place.
I'm certainly intrigued here... but I don't know if I'm that intrigued...
------------------
Charles Mingus is alive
and
Alice Coltrane is your mother.
08-17-00, 10:30 PM
#16
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Olympia, WA
Posts: 2,421
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh Man. KOOLSOULBRO you just gotta gotta get this disc. In the 20 minute documentary/interview, Jim Jarmusch, the director, refers to the film's composer, The RZA, as the Thelonius Monk of Hip Hop. The score to this film is the best i've heard this year, by far, & it's available on a isolated track on the disc. adios, Tony Block
08-19-00, 07:06 AM
#19
Moderator
I don't know... I tried watching this last night w/ a group of people. After nothing happening for the first 15min we took it out and switched to Storm Riders 
I'll check it out later this weekend though...
I'll check it out later this weekend though...
08-23-00, 07:28 PM
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I can't believe all the praise for this movie. I thought it was very slow-paced....too much of Ghost Dog driving and walking along. I know JJ may have deliberately done this to show you his lifestyle, but it did get boring. The ice cream man and G.Dog's relationship was great though. I wish there was more interaction with them and the girl.
I never recommend someone to see or NOT see a movie. I just give my take and let the person decide if they want to see it or not. so, in sum, I found it slow, but with bits of genious thrown in for a few moments. The overall story had all the usual gangster plotlines.....C+/B-
I never recommend someone to see or NOT see a movie. I just give my take and let the person decide if they want to see it or not. so, in sum, I found it slow, but with bits of genious thrown in for a few moments. The overall story had all the usual gangster plotlines.....C+/B-
08-23-00, 09:10 PM
#22
DVD Talk Godfather
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
slow and to much driving?? how about the ol' fashion, set the mood. enjoy the view.. eh..
08-24-00, 06:52 PM
#24
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I liked this movie a lot. More than I thought I would, even. I liked the pacing, the story, and almost everything about it.
Insightful.
-S
quote:<HR>Originally posted by BigBadWes:
I thought the movie was stupid! As for you Tony Block if that was one of your favorite movies of 2000 you need serious help buddy!<HR>
Insightful.
-S
