Author
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Topic: I've got a question, dammit
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JJH
Oscar® Winner
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don't ask me why this popped into my head, so just accept that it. There are factors at play to multidinous to enumerate one by one.
Who's trying the hardest to be like Steven Spielberg:
M Night Shamalamadingdong, or Steven Sommers? *******
to stay on topic, I think the scores for all 5 of their big films are peachy keen: Deep Rising, Mummy 1 and 2, Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable. well....there it is. thank you for your time.
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posted 07-02-2001 03:36 PM PT (US) ip
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Big Bear
unregistered
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Sommers wants to be the 70's / 80's Spielberg who made great entertainments. Shyamalan wants to be more along the lines of the 90's Spielberg, more thoughtful and obtuse. Neither has been very successful in my opinion. Only The Jungle Book and The Sixth Sense have given me reason to think these two have something interesting to say. After all, it is the bane of imitators to always be cast in the shadow of your chosen forerunner.
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posted 07-02-2001 03:47 PM PT (US) ip
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Lancelot
Oscar® Winner
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Y'know...Ok, just on a mini-rant, it really ticks me off when I read about some filmmaker who's labled as "trying to be the next Spielberg"...crimony, you'd think Spielberg was the only guy out there making movies. I think that these guys aren't trying to be the next anybody. I think they're just trying to be who they are. Ok, that said, I sense a lot Shyamalan trying to be the next Hitchcock....Or, if you prefer, the next Brian DePalma, since Brian DePalma was trying to be the next Hitchcock. Either way...no, I can't really superimpose one filmmaker on top of another. As before, I think they're just trying to do what feels natural as filmmakers. (Note that it's fairly impossible to be completely original these days....even The Matrix--a fairly original film--still borrows elements of John Woo, Sam Peckinpah, Chuck Jones....)
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posted 07-02-2001 04:30 PM PT (US) ip
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John C Winfrey
Oscar® Winner
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"Tell it to my face, goshdarnit."Saw a little of Starship Troopers on SFX last night. Typical Verhoeven junk. Pure slop. Bad acting, poor story and gross violence. Score good though. Best, JW.
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posted 07-02-2001 04:47 PM PT (US) ip
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Scott
Oscar® Winner
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quote:
Originally posted by JJH:
Night Shamalamadingdong,
[/B]
ROFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JJH, you crack me up. Scott
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posted 07-02-2001 05:17 PM PT (US) ip
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Widescreen
Oscar® Winner
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Shyamalan I don't think is trying to be anything like Hitchcock, more like Rod Serling, the endings and twists in both Sixth Sense and Unbreakable (which I liked much more of the two), if you notice are akin to Twilight Zone episodes and their twists at the end. God bless Shyamalan, he's bringing back a writing style that, if he doesn't overdo it, could usher in a fresh exchange of ideas. Personally I think it's a style that should be embraced a hell of lot more than anything else out there. It's a sort of "Touched Wonder" in the face of cynical or violent material that I think works wonderfully. If I were a producer in Hollywood now, I'd work damn hard to see to it that Shyamalan's next project was "the Breathing Method", a Stephen King short story from the Novella Volume "Different Seasons"- all the other stories have been made into films: Stand By Me (The Body), The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil. The Breathing Method has a sad and kind of gross ending that at the same time has a truly awe-inspiring moment. It is perhaps the best thing I've ever read from Stephen King.Then I'd get James Newton Howard to score it if Alan Silvestri weren't already available (Shymalan's choice would be Howard).
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posted 07-03-2001 08:53 AM PT (US) ip
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Quill
Oscar® Winner
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I don't think Schmayalan is trying to be anything like Spielberg...Sommers yes.The fascinating thing about Schmayaldingdong  is how he can make the mundane and everyday fascinating. Spielberg takes fascinating and makes it even more so...I think there both excellent visual filmmakers. But I will say that I am glad to have Sommers around...the movie industry is getting too dark and philisophical in my opinion.
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posted 07-03-2001 08:59 AM PT (US) ip
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TV's Frank
Oscar® Winner
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And hey, I thought STARSHIP TROOPERS was a great film! That sequence when they get ambushed on Planet P is very reminiscent of ZULU, where they're trapped on all sides, and I think it's quite well shot and edited and scored. Very exciting stuff. The score is certainly a feather in Poledouris' cap!
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posted 07-03-2001 02:25 PM PT (US) ip
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