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Zack and Miri Make a Porno, a Kevin Smith romantic comedy starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, just came out on DVD. I hear there may have been some difficulties getting an R rating which caused some of the trash talk dialog I expect and love in Kevin Smith movies...
It's no secret that Smith owes much inspiration to John Hughes. Like Hughes, his writing is character driven above all else and that is his strongest ability to pull us into his world.
But one thing from Hughes that he seems to be doing more and more is using established songs as musical score. I really can't stand it, it makes it feel like you are watching a music video.
We'd expect it from Hack Snyder because he isn't capable of much else (to his credit he did only do it 2 or three times in 300, seeming to realize that playing Andrew WK in the background of ancient Greece would ruin the already fragile believability of the film.)...
But Kevin, c'mon. give us a break here. That's one thing that John Hughes did that should stay dead with him.
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Originally Posted by Morning Glory
I am blanking on what the song playing after they had sex was, but it struck me as being something I should recognize as an homage. Do you recall what the song was and if it was in a John Hughes movie?
I don't think John Hughes is technically dead, is he?
If you don't make a romance movie character-driven then it's always gonna just plain suck or at best, be fair.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morning Glory
I was saying that is what Smith does best, write good characters.
I'm not sure what that song is in Z&M when they were doing it. To my knowledge it wasn't a homage. I'm not sure if that would have made it better, I'd say it would probably make it worse.
maybe it's just me, I just don't like to hear songs played over the dialogue in a scene, it usually takes me out of believability. I mean I know that you aren't going to think that a movie is realistic, but you can get into it where you accept at as being self-consistent and that just kinda smacks you in the face that you are watching a movie, and then you can't focus on the acting. The point is supposed to be that you are getting an emotional response from the music and not necessarily from the acting, which I think should be able to carry it's own weight at conveying that response; so it just seems kind of amateur.
Maybe it's a response to the stupid audience that a lot of movie makers try to show obvious cues to tell them what is going on and what they are supposed to feel, and they lack the subtlety which I think shows a more mature and insightful filmmaker- like Hitchcock, just off the top of my head.
Kevin Smith almost never writes dialogue that doesn't feel like it's being read off a script, but he writes good lines, so he manages to get away with it.
I know that this thread wasn't about critiquing the film direction, but that was just something that I wanted to rant about.
on the subject of dick on screen, haha...
do you think that showing an erect penis automatically qualifies for an NC-17 rating? I think that is the case. I can't recall ever seeing a boner in a mainstream film. only a quick glance at a hanging wang is permitted.
They have that in foreign films and they don't see it as porn. I know the Spanish actress from "Spanglish" did a mainstream foreign film where she blows a guy. Alot more graphic then the two second "Brown Bunny" Chloe clip I've seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Morning Glory
I thought the slo-mo scene with the Pixies tune was really effective in this flick, so at least during that bit, I liked his use of tuneage.
Katie Morgan has done a lot of stuff for HBO too. She seems to have decent chops and mainstream(ish) appeal.
i loved this movie (: