dhmac

There was for many years a Bugs Bunny / Road Runner show on big network Saturday morning TV that, due to rights issues, only showed the cartoons made after ~1948. So almost anyone who grew up then knew the cartoons of this era where the best cartoon were usually the Chuck Jones directed ones, but they didn't get to see the pre-1948 cartoon when other directors created the best cartoons and defined the style (during which time that Chuck Jones was trying to out-cutesy Disney with his character Sniffles the mouse).

And his bitter, one-sided hatred of Bob Clampett shows that he probably wasn't that great of a guy to start with. The way he ruined Daffy Duck's wild and crazy personality by changing him into a selfish and greedy character was presumably based on Bob Clampett's personality, but I think was really more of a self-reflection of Jones' attitude towards Clampett instead. The strange thing about it is he accused Bob Clampett of stealing credit for a lot of the characters, but when all was said and done, it ultimatedly was Chuck Jones who stole the credit from everyone else.

dhmac

This is a good video essay on the general decline in the quality of movie posters.

WTF Happened to Movie Posters?
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VXJiBkFgprQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(This is from late 2013 but I only recently stumbled across it)

james2025a

Over the last 6 months i have watched a lot of Stuckmanns videos and whilst i don't always agree with the things he says, he always makes highly watchable video reviews and analysis. Too many of these Youtube guys seem to act like shouting and trying way too hard to be funny makes their videos awesome. It doesn't. I like the fact that Stuckmann actually looks beyond the movie and into its production and the history of those involved. He does not get bogged down in the details and makes them quick, insightful and well rounded.

On one of his reviews (The Hilarocity video for Batman and Robin) he has a co-reviewer and that guy is bad. He shouts and you can see him wanting to be seen as cool and funny and badass. Its a nice comparison to see them both reviewing a piece at a time as it shows how its done well and how its done rather bad.

dhmac

Yeah, I've become a big fan of Chris Stuckmann's reviews too. Even though I disagree with him on a lot of movies, I think his opinion is always worth hearing about any movie. And he seems like a likeable person which helps when watching reviews that seldom have clips in them. (I guess he usually avoids using clips - unless necessary to make a particular point - because it takes longer to put out reviews with them edited in, and also risks running into an occasional "copyright claim by a studio" that I've seen other online reviewers have to deal with.)

That other guy is John Flickinger of "The Flick Pick". And, yeah, even though he's friends with Chris Stuckmann and probably is a nice enough guy in person, I think his review style is a bit too "Jerk Jock" in tone so I don't check out reviews on his channel nearly as much as ones on Stuckmann's channel.

dhmac

The Discarded Image channel looks at the Pool Hall sequence from Brian De Palma's "Carlito's Way"

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The Discarded Image: Episode 2 - Carlito's Way (De Palma, 1993) from 1848 Media on Vimeo.

inri222

^^^^^

That was good. Even though he has had some stinkers, I've always been a fan of De Palma's work. When he's good he can make some of the best films, a true auteur.

dhmac

Yeah, Brian De Palma is an extremely skilled filmmaker who makes too many lousy movies, but even his worst ones will have a very well-done scene or two in them. He really is a master of setpiece scenes.

I remember back when he used to be considered the "next Hitchcock" but then after his career dropped drastically, I think David Fincher fits that title better now.

Supermallet

I don't think Chuck Jones gets credit for creating the comedy style of WB cartoons, at least among anyone who knows even a bit of history of Termite Terrace.

Jones' stuff gets more publicity because he refined and perfected the styles that the guys before him created. He didn't create Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny or "Shhh I'm hunting rabbits", but he did create "Rabbit season/duck season/rabbit season". Also his "cutesy" style as dhmac puts it became the basis for the look of the Looney Tunes forever after. The more angular looks of the earlier cartoons feel archaic by comparison.

There are great cartoons from virtually every era of the original run of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, and the earlier stuff isn't better just because it's earlier. For every "Porky in Wackyland" there are dozens of forgettable, throwaway cartoons. Jones didn't make solid gold with every cartoon he released for WB, but I'd argue he has the best track record of any of the WB directors. His cartoons has a sense of pacing and structure that makes them feel more fully realized. Whether or not you think highly of him, he was a brilliant animator and director, and it's thanks to his work that Looney Tunes is still as revered as it is today. You don't see Disney cartoons of the same period get nearly as much love as WB cartoons do now.

dhmac

Anyone who knows the actual history doesn't think this but so many documentaries, interviews, articles, etc. sing the praises of Chuck Jones so much that a lot of people in the general public thinks he was the main guy behind these cartoons. (A way to tell the difference is if people know what the term "Termite Terrace" means - if they do, they probably know the real history; if they don't, they probably think Chuck Jones was the main creative force.)

(There is an odd irony in that Chuck Jones' one-sided feud with Bob Clampett was over his opinion that Bob Clampett claimed too much credit for the cartoons from Termite Terrace. But as history played out, now Chuck Jones is the one who gets too much credit, primarily due to the media not caring to dig deeply in the history and him outliving both Bob Clampett and Tex Avery, and hence giving a lot more interviews on the subject later in life.)

dhmac

The Discarded Image channel's video on the "Last Day as a Wise Guy" sequence from Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas"

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The Discarded Image: Episode 3 - Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990) from 1848 Media on Vimeo.

inri222

Nah, not enough perversion in his films.

hanshotfirst1138

There was one Hitchcock, and he was Hitchcock. Of the often-compared, Fincher is too clinical, DePalma is too baroque, Argento too elaborate, Spielberg is too infatuated with special effects, and Verhoeven is too vulgar. He casts a huge shadow, but there's never going to be anyone quite like him. Henri-Georges Clouzot might have been his closest contemporary analog; he was as playful and and intense, and just as smart, but more gritty and didn't have Hitchcock's sleek pop-expressionist or sense of dark humor.

inri222

Also Claude Chabrol, but still no cigar.

dhmac

I don't mean Fincher is the same as Hitchcock, I'm just using the vernacular common in the press for labeling filmmakers. They will call a up-and-coming filmmaker the "next" one of an established filmmaker - for example, in this infamous Newsweek magazine cover (spoiler-tagged for size):


I don't think David Fincher is some sort of carbon-copy of Alfred Hitchcock, just that Hitch is clearly an influence on Fincher. Other influences on Fincher are Kubrick and even Spielberg, as shown in this video essay:

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David Fincher – Touch of Spielberg from Michael Bryant on Vimeo.

Solid Snake

<iframe width="520" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UWEjxkkB8Xs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

dhmac

The Discarded Image: Episode 4 - "The Conversation" (Coppola, 1974)

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The Discarded Image: Episode 4 - The Conversation (Coppola, 1974) from 1848 Media on Vimeo.

dhmac

"The Discarded Image" episode 5 is a look at the original 1977 "Star Wars"

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The Discarded Image: Episode 5 - Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) from Julian Palmer on Vimeo.

dhmac

I've been remiss in updates for this thread, so I plan to make a few in short order...

First up is this video essay by the Nerdwriter titled "The Evolution of Batman's Gotham City"

dhmac

Julian Palmer on his film analysis channel "The Discarded Image" discusses Alfred Hitchcock in this video essay titled "Psycho - How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates An Audience":



( direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm-9E275D9c )
( alternate link of same video essay at Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/159301414 )

dhmac

A video essay by The Discarded Image on John Carpenter's "Halloween"

"Halloween - The Fundamental Slasher"

inri222

Video Essay : Which Movies Have the Greatest Cinematography?

inri222

Dan

Bump!

These guys are working with Fincher now