27 December 2003
C.S.I. is painless...
That title doesn't really make any sense, but it's slightly catchy and fits in with the DVDs I've been watching lately. Namely, MASH and C.S.I.: the first season. Interspersed in there too is Full metal jacket, on a strong recommendation from skippy. So what can I say now? Crime doesn't pay and war is hell.
Seriously, though ,they were all pretty good. Full metal jacket I'd be willing to watch again, but probably just that. C.S.I. was decent but I don't think I need to watch this particular season again, though I am looking forward to watching the next one—once as well. I remember enough and it wasn't a classic, just pretty good. About the only shows I'd go back to for a second and subsequent viewing are The prisoner and The Sopranos, though there could well be more that I just can't recall at the moment. As for TV shows, I think I'll stick with the small screen version of M.A.S.H., not just because I watched it first but because it just works better to stretch out the ideas they're working at over so many years, not just two hours. That and they don't sing the lyrics to the theme song on the show. Altman's film was pretty good, but I have yet to find an Altman that really impressed me. His Player rubbed me the wrong way (several wrong ways, actually) and I haven't really loved anything I've seen of his since. Though the idea of including more football than war in a war movie is an interesting idea and if it was as allegorical as it could be that is by itself brilliant. But the movie overall was scattershot and dragged.
Now Full metal jacket definitely didn't drag. I'm sure somebody out there will clobber me for saying so, but it was his warmest film that I've watched so far. Vague as that statement is, I cannot elaborate on it without lots of hand-waving and "you know..."s so I guess I'm still on the outs with the armchair film school. 'Course I watch my films from a couch, anyway.
3 comments on C.S.I. is painless...
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Have you seen "Gosford Park"? Carina and I quite enjoyed that, on recommendation from both my mom and my boss. My boss is a big Altman fan, though, so I'm sure his enthusaism rubbed off a bit.
Glad you liked FMJ. I still need to watch Dr. Strangelove, believe it or not.
Soon Carina and I are going to watch "Blood Simple", since it's a Cohen brothers film _and_ it has Bruce Campbell! (two great tastes that taste great together, or something...)
Gosford park? I'll put that on the list after Platoon, since now you have provided me with my second recommendation. Definitely watch Dr. Strangelove, and I too would like to see Blood simple if for no other reason than to be one movie closer to finishing the Coen oeuvre. Not that it's bad, in fact many are quite good. The Hudsucker proxy gets a lot of flack but it's worth watching, and that's just the first one that comes to mind. Oh brother...
Platoon is a good film. Charlie Sheen gets a lot of flack, but he's serviceable in his role as witness to the atrocities of war. Willem DeFoe is his least weird and creepy in Platoon, and Tom Derringer is spot-on.
I remember having seen the Hudsucker Proxy, but I don't remember much other than the scene where Tim falls and the guy stops the clock... I remember I rather liked the film, but I didn't really cogitate on it much.
The Big Lebowski is, hands down, the Cohen brother's finest achievement. Raising Arizona is fun, and O Brother was a surprising treat, but the consistency and brilliance of The Big Lebowski are beyond compare.
'Course, I haven't watched all of Barton Fink, and I haven't seen Miller's Crossing in a dog's age, so maybe my opinion will be revised. I doubt it.