VinylGuy wrote:While im recording a podcast about Brian DePalma i cant help to think about how i adore his work as a kid, and how much of a footnote he became with time.
I havent seen his last two movies and the last movie i enjoyed from him was Mission To Mars, which is, lets say, uneven at best.
He was very stylish and I still like his American gialli, but overall there just wasn’t much substance there.
Maybe you are right, maybe his work is more suited for a young guy discovering cinema. Not sure. He still has many favorites from mine, Body Double and Carlito´s Way specially besides of course, of Carrie, Scarface, Snake Eyes, Untouchables.
Ill try to watch Passion soon but i dont think ill even try with the last one.
Carrie and Scarface absolutely, especially the latter. Wasn’t a big fan of the Untouchables. I have almost no memory of Snake Eyes.
In general I think that—outside of the gialli and adjacent types of films—he’s more of a journeyman than an auteur and the quality of his movies largely depends on the script.
He definitely should have done more movies where the camera angle doesn't move, or we follow the POV of a FedEx package for fifteen minutes or there is some other key trick shot. Or maybe something about a feather and so much CGI deep fake composites that we forget the movie is just a soundtrack.
He'd probably be a fan favorite and a hero if he'd just done sometime like that.
Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 09, 2026 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bart wrote:Carrie and Scarface absolutely, especially the latter. Wasn’t a big fan of the Untouchables. I have almost no memory of Snake Eyes.
In general I think that—outside of the gialli and adjacent types of films—he’s more of a journeyman than an auteur and the quality of his movies largely depends on the script.
I kinda feel the opposite. He is such a master of his craft sometimes the script is not good and yet you are watching a masterpiece (obsession or body double for example).
Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 09, 2026 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Fri January 09, 2026 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
