Vic Sage

Dismissing Stone out of hand is, IMO, a mistake. His films can be truly dreadful, but can, on ocasion, be amazing. His filmic vision was forged in his violent experiences in Vietnam. While only a few of them deal specifically with that war, ALL of his films have a high level of violence, and sometimes violence is the very subject of the movies. And his view of it is interestingly ambivalent. He revels in it, and despises it, too. And the politics surrounding the war radicalized him about government and power and capitalisim, and its potential for evil. His biopic of Ron Kovic would seem autobiographical for him, as well. But what makes him interesting is his abilitiy to fuel his angry, violent skreeds and fun-house mirror vision of "history" into wildly visual, viceral experiences. Sometimes the heavy-handedness swamps the movie, but sometimes it comes just short of killing it and acts succeeds, instead, in heightening the film's impact. Love him or hate him, his talent and point-of-view are unique, and he hasn't yet become a hack for hire. feature films written and directed by Oliver Stone (unless otherwise noted): Seizure (1974) - his first feature; an awful Canadian horror film Midnight Express (1978) (screenplay only) - Stone's adaptation turned into a great film, directed by Alan Parker The Hand (1981) - 2nd feature; a slightly better horror film (but still not good); script is an adaptation of book and rip off of "Hand of Orlac" Conan the Barbarian (1982) (co-screenplay only) - helped out on Milius' screenplay; actually a pretty good adaptation Scarface (1983) (screenplay) now-classic adaptation, directed by DePalma Year of the Dragon (1985) (co-screenplay) adapted with director Michael Cimino; underrated, violent crime story 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) (co-screenplay) many writers mangled this crime drama directed by the late, great Hal Ashby Salvador (1986) - he wrote, produced and directed this, the first of his original, political, personal movies... his breakthru film (artistically, not commercially). He produces all his films hereafter. Platoon (1986) - his personal account of the vietnam war was the blockbuster that made him a Hollywood force. Wall Street (1987) - "greed is good"; Stone takes on 1980s-style capitalism run amok. Talk Radio (1988) - worked with Eric Bogosian to adapt Bogasian's play; powerful. Born on the Fourth of July (1989) - back to Vietnam, worked with Ron Kovic to adapt Kovic's memoir. Overblown, heavy-handed epic. The Doors (1991) - original script for hallucinagenic music biopic; Like most of his films, it's overblown and heavy-handed, with some interesting imagery. JFK (1991) - adapted Garrison's book into another hallucinagenic, overblown, heavy-handed look at our "history", with even more spectacular visual panache. Heaven & Earth (1993) - the 3rd in Stone's vietnam trilogy, this sad, emotional story is told from the vietnamese perspective. underrated. Natural Born Killers (1994) - Stone worked with Tarentino on this over-the-top violent comic farce, about the impact of media violence. disturbing black comedy is an example of what its criticizing. Nixon (1995) - see: overblown, heavy-handed, imagery, "history", etc., yyybbb ... but surprisingly more sympathetic to its subject than i thought it'd be, and more moving than usual. But he's done nothing since this one of particular note, ending a 10-year run as one of Hollywood's biggest filmmakers. Freeway (1996) (co-screenplay) Stone co-wrote and produced this twisted, comic version of "little red riding hood"; now a cult movie. Evita (1996) (co-screenplay) - came on board to help old friend Alan Parker with the script. Nothing could save it, though. U Turn (1997) (direction) - stone just directs this nasty, little modern film noir. Any Given Sunday (1999) - Stone fukks up football. oy. Alexander (2004) - catastrophically awful bio epic of gay warrior king. World Trade Center (2006) (direction) - ? Shorts and documentaries: Last Year in Viet Nam (1971) - short film Mad Man of Martinique (1979) (direction only) - another short film Persona Non Grata (2003) - documentary on Palistinian conflict. Comandante (2003) - documentary about Stone's meeting with Fidel Castro. Looking for Fidel (2004) (TV) - a followup documentary on Fidel

]Let's start playing baseball the Gene Mauch way. Leadoff bunt for a single, bunt him over to second, bunt him over third, RBI single. yeah, well, how about lets not?

its apparently a rather apolitical approach, and has been lauded by some conservative groups for its patriotism. i'll wait for NetFlix.

yes, its pulling punches. there's a difference between knowing something and feeling something. You need to feel for Portman on a viceral level in those scenes, to feel that she's actually being tortured, so when its revealed that ***SPOILER WARNING*** V is actually the torturer, it has real emotional impact. If the torture is simply suggested, and hinted at, or simply not portrayed, then you can KNOW that V tortured her, but you haven't FELT it in the same way. It's the same as all the off--camera killings he commits. Even the gentleness of his killing of the lady doctor. And his bombs apparently don't kill any innocent folks. That, and the love story, are all meant to blunt the perception of V as an insane terrorist. He's just a charming Zorro-type hero revenging himself upon the powers that be, on behalf of the people. But that isn't what the book was, and it isn't what the movie otherwise CLAIMS itself to be. Like i said, if you want an audience to truly reconsider the nature of terrorism as a form of political action, then you've got to present a TERRORIST, not a misunderstood hero. They pulled their punches to make him more likeable, to have it both ways. Or they were forced to pull their punches by their studio, and by the possibility that Portman might've simply refused to do any nude scenes.Either way, they compromised and failed to make their point.

Willets, you are clearly a man of talent and vision. kudos.

I checked the success rate of feature remakes of TV shows, to see if they're unusually successful or not. Here are my findings, based on reported theatrical box office grosses (not including video/tv/etc): [u:1x9ak1jg] = or > $200M / Worldwide grosses[/u:1x9ak1jg] MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II MISSION IMPOSSIBLE I THE FUGITIVE FLINTSTONES WILD WILD WEST CHARLIE'S ANGELS I CHARLIE'S ANGELS II SCOOBY DOO [u:1x9ak1jg] = or >$100M / U.S. grosses[/u:1x9ak1jg] ADDAMS FAMILY SWAT [u:1x9ak1jg] =or >$100M / International grosses[/u:1x9ak1jg] MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE in conclusion, with around a 25% "hit" rate, it appears this genre is at LEAST as popular as almost any other, and more popular than some. I guess that answers the "why do they keep making that crap" question. But as for spinoffs and sequels, none have been worldwide hits, and they tend to be less successful overall, with these exceptions: Domestic hits -- WAYNES WORLD, STAR TREK IV: VOYAGE HOME Foreign hits -- BEAN, X-FILES

eldridge was signed on 6-6-6? now THAT doesn't bode well...

well, my 9-year old girl now turns up her nose at most animated films. And she abhors movies that are the least bit scary or have any violence whatsoever. Basically, that limits her to Disney-type movies with Lindsay Lohan, Raven Symone, Mandy Moore, Amanda Bynes, Hilary Duff... musicals and comedies only. Nothing sad, nothing where animals are endangered or die, and, recently, nothing in black & white (which is annoying). HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL is a masterpiece, in her universe. My 5-year old boy is also violence-averse, and highly sensitive to anything scary. he gets nightmares if i read him a "captain underpants" book... you ever try to comfort a kid terrified of being eaten by a terrible talking toilet or a monstrous booger-boy robot? Not so easy to talk him in from THAT ledge, let me tell you. He was once so scared of a movie trailer (SON OF THE MASK) that he refused to re-enter a movie theater (or even a video store) for over a year thereafter. Even now, either my wife or i have to wait with him in the hall outside the theater until the trailers are over.

they showed the trailer during CARS and it scared the crap out of my kids. i don't know who the audience is for this movie. Its too scary for younger kids, and older kids i know think animated films are "for babies", and are too insecure to want to do what they think only younger kids do. but its not scary or sick enough to appeal to teen thrill seekers or grownup cult film-meisters.

oh, and if there are naked pictures out there, please provide a link!

Does that mean that Kris Benson is no going to have sex will all the Mets players, to get back at her?

oh, i thought you were an alum, too. Luckily for you, your not, it seems.

but Vic and Seawolf are both SUNY SB alums... so maybe we ARE the same person! wait, no, he likes the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I like the Monkees, so we are most definitely distinct entities.

ok, Edge. I guess i shouldn't mention i've got him on 2 fantasy teams, then. go Chase! get hits and lose!

Who did we trade to the ChiSox for him? I forget. Was it Burnitz?

i remember clearly, during the 02-03 season, advocating for the Mets to sign Ortiz. We needed a LHed bat off the bench, and one that could fill in at 1B for the injured Mo Vaughn, perhaps to platoon with Jason Phillips. We ended up signing Tony Clark, who wasn't bad actually, but i was disappointed when Ortiz ended up with the Sox. I'm not pretending that i foresaw him becoming an MVP-type player, but he was a guy with obvious upside, and i just couldn't understand why (1) the Twins would just let him walk away, and (2) why we did, too, in favor of a faded hitter with bad knees.

I just LOVE IT when the opposing manager not only takes the bat out of a hot hitter's hands by asking him to bunt, he then forces him to bunt with TWO STRIKES after already showing 2 badly executed bunt attempts! What a gift. Thanks, Joe! And here i didn't get you anything... i'm so embarrassed. That K turned the inning around for Wags and lead to a Mets victory. BIFL!!!

]I demand that Milwaukee's sizeable Irish community be recognized with an Irish Sausage. i've always heard that Irish sausages aren't very big. Which is part of why they get into so many fights. hey, thats what i HEARD! probably heard it on the FAN...

thought "Head" was pretty good. I mean, I saw it in the '70's on a double bill with "200 Motels" and who knows what I had in my system at the time, but I liked it. Otherwise, I've seen none of the others on Vic's worst list. When i ran my campus film series, i too showed it on a double-bill with 200 MOTELS. The Monkees made HEAD to destroy their bland TV-based personas and sabotage the show's success. Which is pretty funny, considering that all they WERE was a TV creation to begin with. The movie is a pseudo-acid trip, with mostly crappy songs. It certainly helps to be in an altered state when watching it. The tv show, goofy and self-conscious as it was, was better. Although the concept of them being merely Victor Mature's dandruff is the stuff of nightmares, and it has stayed with me to this day. I actually love the MONKEES music. They had some of the best songwriters, producers and studio musicians of the period working on their albums. In fact, i bet i could put up a pretty impressive top ten in the BLC ratings competition, if i were of a mind to.

in fact, he's not even the worst defensive OFer on the Mets 40-man roster. Victor Diaz is still on the 40-man roster, right? I actually thought Nady was adequate in RF. It was his mediocre OPS that concerned me more, especially compared to the production of other RFers.

the thing about Cedeno and Hundley was they were playing out of their natural positions, for a short period. However, Lonnie "skates" Smith (St.Louis/KC/Atl, circa 1980s) kept his job as a LFer for about a decade, and that was a remarkable accomplishment.

i'm crabby... but that's my nature to begin with. Our rotation makes me nervous, our bullpen just took a hit, our 4th OFer is now a starter, to platoon with an untested rookie, which might be a slight downgrade in our RF production (or an upgrade, but unknown at this point), and we've still got no LHed punch off the bench. Our #1 starter is fragile, our #2 is in a 2 month funk, our #3 is an adequate #4, and our #4 and #5 are rookies and an old guy. Will we win the East? Yes. Will we win the pennant? Possibly. Will we win a WS? HIGHLY unlikely. Will we find ourselves in such a good position next year? UNKNOWN AND UNKNOWABLE.

] � Mets get RHP Scott Linebrink; San Diego Padres get LHP Oliver Perez and RHP Heath Bell. Story Yahoo is reporting that Rotonews is reporting that ESPN is reporting the trade is done... Perez and Bell for linebrink! yeah, Omar!

yeah, too good to be true.

yes, but why must each July trading deadline elicit such terror for Mets fans? why can't we do nothing at all, instead of something stupid?