I loved Spider - while it may be slow as hell, the atmosphere and freakiness of this film feels so real IMO anyway.

I'm a sucker for scanners though as well :)

What, no one's going to say M Butterfly? :lol:

I'm a big Cronenberg fan, and that's the only film of his I didn't like in any way.

David Cronenberg
 

What is your favorite Cronenberg film?

Re: David Cronenberg
 

not a Cronenberg fan in the least but The Dead Zone is a fantastic flick

Re: David Cronenberg
 

The Fly..that's my fav flick of his....

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Videodrome

Long live the new flesh

Re: David Cronenberg
 

The Dead Zone is great and the ending was moving with Walken's performance.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

The Fly

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Dead Ringers, I find it to be his most moving flick, and Jeremy Irons' dual performance is amazing. Cronenberg is one of my favorite directors, and for me, most of his films are pretty consistent in terms of quality.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

"Death to Videodrome, long live in new flesh"

...but I still haven't seem Shivers (waiting for it to ummm... come in print), Crash, or Eastern Promises

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Videodrome is my favorite, Dead Ringers is his best.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

I'm not going to vote, on the grounds I've only seen one of these films. But that film was A History of Violence and man, I love that one. The story is interesting enough, but kind of simple and straightforward; it's the kind of thing that could easily have felt like an overlong episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent more than a feature film. But the pacing, the terse dialog and solid performances really infused it with a lot of tension. My wife and I were genuinely concerned for the local sheriff. And the sex scenes were just...primal, for lack of a better word. They didn't feel at all like most movies's sex scenes. (I'm not just saying that because I have a thing for Maria Bello!)

I'd heard this was great back when it was released, but never got around to seeing it. We turned it up for $4.00, I think, at Best Buy back in 2008 and finally watched it last year. It's easily one of my favorite films of the past decade, and one that I would strongly recommend as a blind buy for anyone who hasn't seen it, but appreciates intelligent films aimed at mature (meaning, "thoughtful") audiences capable of provoking a genuine emotional response throughout.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

I really liked it but I thought the teenage son ruined it; I get the idea that he's representing the dark youth Viggo had but it was hammed up IMO.

And Hurt's performance was awesome.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

I could see the son detracting from the film, but not "ruining" it. I didn't find his performance hammy, though there were some contrivances with the writing that I can't lay at the feet of the actor. I didn't see him so much as a representation of his father's "dark youth" as much as I saw him as a kid who just found out that his entire life had been crafted inside a bubble that was just burst.

Fathers and sons become adversarial at different stages of their lives, and it's common for a son to view himself as his mother's primary protector. In this case, the son felt that way literally; I could easily see how, through his eyes, the truth about his father was a threat to his mother and himself. That he become as volatile as he did, I thought, was perfectly reasonable given his age and the extraordinary nature of the events he'd endured.

Contrast him with Thora Birch's boyfriend in American Beauty, who was little more than a cliche wrapped in moodiness designed to pass for individuality. That character had been raised not in a bubble of lies that let him grow up relatively peacefully and happy, but rather at the mercy of an overbearing, dictatorial father and a mother who'd long since left her family to retreat into herself. I found the son in History more believable. His reaction to his circumstances rang truer to me than the military brat who searches for "beauty" by videotaping a bag blowing in the wind.

Un-de-freaking-niable!

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Yeah, I can see the angle of his change in demeanor based on confusion over his father's past but I thought his antagonizing of his father was rooted in trying to be adversarial. Those were the times that it went overboard for me as it was too much goading from the character; if it was a bit more subtle, it would have worked IMO.

What I saw was an "angry youth" character whose purpose was to drive the father's past psyche back out. His eager taunts for his dad to shoot Ed Harris or how he became violent at school made me think of what the younger Mortensen's development might have been like.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Dead Ringers but there are a lot of great films on that poll.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Hard to choose. Haven't seen a few of them, and haven't seen several in years, but for now I choose The Fly.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Voted Dead Ringers. Surprised to see no love for Naked Lunch -- which comes in as a close second for me.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Jason X

Re: David Cronenberg
 

The Fly - I think it's a flawless horror film and one of the best remakes ever.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Just the opposite for me... Naked Lunch followed very closely by Dead Ringers.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Tough choice for me, as I like a lot of his films but don't really love any of them. It came down to Spider and A History of Violence, and I went with the latter.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

Videodrome. This movie terrified me as a kid, and I barely understood it really. When I saw it again 20 years later on DVD, having not seen it for a long time, not only was I still terrified, I *got* it, and it terrified me even more. Unearthly brilliant movie.

Re: David Cronenberg
 

I went with Videodrome, though I was leaning toward Naked Lunch. I haven't found one I don't love yet. I need to rewatch Spider, though. It didn't grow on me the first time.