Solid Snake

Not all film professors are history buffs to recognize 1 or 2 films in a genre? How is that odd? Again film is filled w/ so many films to name 1 or 2 films and not know it? To know them all, all the ones that are "important"...is very hard I'd say. There are too many films of importance to know them all just off hand.

Burnt Thru

The professors of engineering, mathematics, history and other subjects that I know have a very wide and deep knowledge within their field of expertise. Hell, even the ordinary lecturers have a very good knowledge. Not having heard of those particular films in the crime genre is certainly strange. There aren't all that many genres and there aren't all that many great films within each genre. Certainly there aren't that many hugely influential films within each genre. It's not a question of being a history buff to know the subject you are supposed to teach.

Dr Mabuse

'Charley Varrick' is awesome, I just watched my proper OAR copy of it last week for the N-teenth time. Did you know Siegel shot it 4X3 and them matted it to the 16X9 format for theatres? He framed the shots with that in mind. So the OAR could be said to be actually 'widescreen', but the film was shot in 4X3.

All that said, 'The Town' blows it out of the water.

But, of course 'The Town' is no 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle'.

Any true cinephile would know all of this.

Bunch of lightweights...

BambooLounge

Psssh...people keep bringing up The Friends of Eddie Coyle when discussing The Town...aside from the Boston setting, the films have nothing in common. It is like comparing Fatso with The Godfather because they both have Italian-American families in them.

But, yes, Friends of Eddie Coyle is a far better film than The Town (but, I'd say so is every other film mentioned above).

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is far more similar to The American thematically, than The Town.

Solid Snake

Was Eddie Coyle brought up in this thread 1st or is cuz of the thread I made about Boston Crime films that brought it up here? I VAGUELY remember Eddie Coyle...how was the DVD of it btw?

PopcornTreeCt

I've taken many film classes in college with various professors. I can safely say I have bigger film history knowledge than all of them. Sure, they've told me stories about working with household name actors and how to take light readings but film-wise I'm pretty sure I know more about French New Wave than any of them. I never saw it as a slight on the professors, it's just people have different skills.

fumanstan

All I know is that apparently if you liked the Town, your opinion is invalid because you know nothing about the genre and have only seen Heat. I'll remind myself of this when I watch it this weekend. Thanks cinephiles!

Dr Mabuse

I haven't seen it yet.

I expect it to be absolutely fantastic though, as the reviewers I tend to pay attention to are giving stellar reviews(like ~95% on RT as whole too), and Affleck is a truly gifted director.

Can't wait to see it.

I was laughing so hard as I typed that above. I laughed and laughed. Note the sun-bleached, laying in the Sahara for years, bone dry delivery if you will. I couldn't believe it actually worked.

But seriously, yes, the Criterion 'Friends of Eddie Coyle' is a great release.

JumpCutz

Compared to who? He's directed two (marginally) entertaining films and all of a sudden he's truly gifted? I find that statement to be a tad hyperbolic.

Dr Mabuse

From my lofty height of cinephile eliteness, I'd need a powerful telescope just to see down to the low level of film knowledge you exist on.

BambooLounge

Not sure about the when it was brought up thing. I was responding only to Mabuse and the "always being brought up" bit was speaking to mainstream critics who feel the need to namedrop The Friends of Eddie Coyle (I don't mind since the film could use the exposure), but there is no similarity between the two aside from the locale.

The Criterion disc is indeed fantastic though, you should check it out.

JumpCutz

Okay...that is funny. I done been zinged.

Supermallet

And don't even ask this guy how much he paid in taxes.

Solid Snake

just looked at the CC site. Holy shit. Was released last year. How'd I miss that? Maybe I should hold off for the BD or the B&N sale...

Dr Mabuse

Sessa17

Someone always makes posts like this that are so sensitive & funny. Nobody in this thread said someone else's opinions are not valid. A question was asked to explain why such lofty accolades were labelled on a film, that is all. Doesn't mean they aren't valid, in my case, I just wanted to know what other genre films one has seen.

Chrisedge

One only needs context if you are comparing the film to another. Can a movie be good "on it's own"? In my opinion, yes. I don't need to have seen the best that genre has to offer to know if I liked something or not.

Now if you want to compare movies, sure, you can. Heat vs The Town, or whatever.

And one doesn't need "context" to discuss film at a deeper level. We could talk all about the lighting in Citizen Kane all day long, and how great it was, without ever mentioning any other film. Or we could talk about how bad the acting was in "Twilight" was without bringing up any other movie. You may sometimes need to reference something, like how wooden Kristen Stewart is in Twilight compared to Adventureland, but you can still discuss how bad she was without ever seeing any other of her movies.

fumanstan

Thanks, I was trying to be funny! (or be stupid, whichever)

eXcentris

Lofty accolades are labelled on many films that are merely good because Hollywood has been producing crap for so long that the masses of moviegoers have come to accept "mediocre" as "good" and "good" as "fantastic!". You don't need a doctorate in crime film studies to figure out the main problem with "The Town". It's a good film and Affleck's direction is fine but the screenplay/adaptation is mediocre.

Sessa17

Asbolutely spot on.

Solid Snake

Just saw The Town, I liked it a lot. It's not AMAZING but it is better than what I'd call a "standard" crime films...if that makes any sense (probably cuz the way it was shot)

It's a B at the very least, MAYBE a B+ but you might have strongly convince me about it. I liked the story a lot. It's not amazing but it was good. Like the performances. Nobody stood out as amazing in it but they were all solid. Much like somebody mentioned before Blake Lively as Krista Coughlin was pretty standard. She wasn't amazing. In fact...she was the weakest not for her acting but cuz the character is weak overall. That part was easy for an actress.

Directing wise, I liked what Affleck did w/ it. I was kind of amazed of it's heavy lack of CGI. VERY little of it, The Departed had a bit more and it bothered me (that's not a bad thing it's just a preference thing) when ricochet sparks were CGI in it...just...weird. Showing off Boston was very nice as well. I don't think...I've seen it shot so well...just..felt real to me. Love the architecture of the places they used. You can just see the history of Boston without blatantly focusing on the architecture.

I think it's weaker than GBG (mostly cuz the script isn't great in comparison to GBG)..but it's still a good film. I'll buy the BD of it eventually. I'm not going nuts for it to have it in my PS3. I will gladly buy it though down the line. So it seems Affleck isn't just a fluke. he can make solid films. Let's see what he does with his 3rd film.

Somebody else said it but it really feels like HEAT without the fat in terms of pacing or whatever...but HEAT was still better. BUT I could get a HEAT vibe from it. Wonder if that was intentional from Affleck or just a coincidence.

BambooLounge

One need not only have to be making direct comparisons for the need of context to arise. Generally, when one discusses the merits of a picture, the merit is closely tied to the novelty of what is being discussed.

Yes, we can talk about the lighting in Citizen Kane all day. But, if Welles lit his scenes the exact same way as someone else or the lighting in the film was directly influenced by something else, then it would be important to the discussion.

I hate to keep using this film, but it works (for the average film it would just be one shot or element of the whole that might be being copied or many shots from many sources...QT)...if someone was unaware of the existence of Hitchcock's Psycho and only saw the remake, they could very well think it was a great movie since it was nearly shot for shot the same as the original. Maybe it is just me, but a lot of times with cinema the quality of a shot or idea is not just in the execution, but in the originality.

Also, when someone says, "This is an awesome heist flick." they are impliedly saying that it is better than the average heist flick. While not a direct comparison, it does open up the discussion for the mention of other films of the genre by way of providing context and comparisons.

Tarantino

I've never seen Charlie Varrick or The Lineup...and I loved The Town.

So uh...yeah.

BambooLounge

For anyone who lives in/near NYC in need of that much discussed "context" might want to head over to Film Forum this month:

The Heist Film Series

RoyalTea

By "well," do you mean "Boston?"