Comments on: Boiling Point: Show Me the Money

By: John

John — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:53:30 +0000

The ending of “La Fem Nikita” always bothered me. I actually worked with Tchéky Karyo with. Then I realized, after the film shoot was over, I forgot to ask him what was in that damn note. I could have shot myself :)

By: 4gb compact flash

4gb compact flash — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:02:11 +0000

It was a brilliant insight, but he still had to back it up with the proper mathematics to show its plausibility to physicists (“Space itself is curved? Are you joking?”), and then that had to be backed up with the evidence of observable and observed physical effects (e.g., astronomers seeing indications of gravity causing light to bend).

By: dc

dc — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:11:07 +0000

I agree for the most part, but I was under the impression that because this is suppose to be a “trilogy” of movies, the painting would be revealed in the later movies. Or at least thats what I thought/hoped when I watched it and learned that Guy had other movies planned.

By: RobHunter

RobHunter — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:21:44 +0000

I agree with this Boiling Point in general, but I don't think Lost In Translation belongs here. The problem films are the ones like Rock n Rolla and Pulp Fiction that tease you with this magical item that never gets revealed. Lost In Translation doesn't tell you in the beginning that there's going to be a mysterious whisper you'll never get to hear… it just happens. And it's fine.

And while Paul is funny in the head for saying Translation is his favorite film, it's still a pretty good flick. Slow yes, but sweet.

By: Reebee7

Reebee7 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:45:11 +0000

I've only seen it once, and liked when I watched it, but I didn't realize it was a big deal (and didn't really think it was blow-me-away fantastic), though I did really enjoy it. I have a weird thing about seeing comedians do strong work outside of typical comedy. So Bill Murray here impressed me, Jim Carrey did in the Truman Show, or Adam Sandler in Spanglish. I just love seeing their versatility.

By: RobertFure

RobertFure — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:44:50 +0000

I do my killin after breakfast.

By: PaulSileo

PaulSileo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:25:15 +0000

Can we make it ten? I would at least like to get some breakfast before I kill anyone.

By: Cole_Abaius

Cole_Abaius — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:20:25 +0000

Of course not. One man's slowboringpointless is another man's treasure.

But I will still be fighting you to the death.

Pistols at dawn.

By: PaulSileo

PaulSileo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:18:52 +0000

So is this a bad time to tell you that Lost in Translation is my favorite film of all time?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:49:00 +0000

See, that to me both displays quick-thinking on the set and a laziness. Kudos for solving a major production problem, but you’ve really only solved it halfway there.

I agree with ReeBee up there because it really depends on how something like this is presented, but I’m not sure exactly why it pisses me off so much sometimes and not others.

With Pulp Fiction, I have to admit that part of that is the fanboy reaction to it, the faux-deepness of “letting anything you want” be inside the briefcase. Judging the movie from the fan blather is unfair, but putting all that emphasis on a MacGuffin is pretty ridiculous.

Now before we start hating on Hitchcock…

By: Reebee7

Reebee7 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:45:11 +0000

By: RobertFure

RobertFure — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:44:50 +0000

I do my killin after breakfast.

By: PaulSileo

PaulSileo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:25:15 +0000

Can we make it ten? I would at least like to get some breakfast before I kill anyone.

By: Cole_Abaius

Cole_Abaius — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:20:25 +0000

Of course not. One man's slowboringpointless is another man's treasure.

But I will still be fighting you to the death.

Pistols at dawn.

By: PaulSileo

PaulSileo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:18:52 +0000

So is this a bad time to tell you that Lost in Translation is my favorite film of all time?

By: Peter Donohue

Peter Donohue — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:09:51 +0000

Actually interesting factoid: originally the briefcase was supposed to be filled with diamonds, but for some reason the prop didn't make it on time, so they just threw in a lightbulb to give us what appeared in the movie.

By: Cole_Abaius

Cole_Abaius — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:27:52 +0000

I enjoyed the ending of Lost in Translation about as much as I enjoyed the rest of the flick. Which is to say – not at all. I've seared steaks that made more narrative sense and had better character development than that.

Thought I was gonna go “paint drying” on you, eh? I thought about it.

By: James

James — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:57:50 +0000

I'm with you on Lost in Translation. I'm probably even with you on the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Sometimes, though, the showing of the mysterious thing can only serve as a distraction. In the case of a video that drives people insane, for instance, what movie within a movie is going to satisfy that build up? If they could show something that lived up to that, don't you think that's the movie they'd be making? Instead, it's a plot point, and instead of showing something that's (not surprisingly) bad that does nothing but piss people off and pull them out of the story, it makes more sense to obscure it.

Granted, if you have to do this, it might be worth reconsidering the story you're telling. The very idea of a painting that makes gangsters cry at the beauty of it is kind of cheesy. The fact that they can't show an actual painting is hardly the biggest problem with that idea.

Like I said, though, your complaint isn't wholly without merit. Sometimes it's just lazy.

By: Jeff R Hall

Jeff R Hall — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:37:01 +0000

I'm with you Mr. Fure. The McGuffins are annoying and distracting.

By: Reebee7

Reebee7 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:12:51 +0000

Sometimes I don't mind this, and sometimes it bothers the living hell out of me for every reason you mentioned. I'd have to really think about this to discover the pattern, why it works for me sometimes and others why it doesn't, but I don't want to put in that much effort.

I didn't wholly mind the ending of Lost in Translation though.