Chuck Taylor & Elizabeth Berkley's Tits

[digitaldiscipline]

[in reaction to this item in Salon today]

Is anything more telling about the reputedly lousy state of contemporary filmmaking than Chucky Taylor's breathless adulation of a semi-forgettable mid-90's skinfest?

Rather than muse on pending titles (I admit it, I am looking forward to seing Ron Perlman as "Hellboy," and Hugh Jackman as "Van Helsing"), we are instead admonished for giving collective short intellectual shrift to "Showgirls," because none of us liked it as much or found it as Important as CT did.

I'm a fan of Paul Verhoven's body of work, and honestly find the far-reaching thematic elements that some film critics seem honor-bound to imbue every celluloid emission with to be the sort of tedious intellectual wanking that gives rise to the low-brow backlash being railed against.

If nobody understands your message, the problem might not be that they're all ignorant; you may be incomprehensible.

Comments

[sukipot.livejournal.com]

If nobody understands your message, the problem might not be that they're all ignorant; you may be incomprehensible.

Much like the sentiment expressed last week about another article in Salon: If nobody's buying your book, it's possible they might just not like it. Indeed, your book may just suck.

Sidebar -- I (mostly) really like Showgirls. I enjoy the way it revels in its own trashiness while telling one of *the* oldest movie stories ever. It all goes awry for me in the last 20 minutes or so when the violence gets too real and completely betrays the tone that's been set beforehand. Having said that, art it ain't. Just because something was reviled several years ago and you (in this case, Taylor) enjoy it anyway, doesn't make it misunderstood, unappreciated art. Sometimes, it really is just shite.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

preeeeee-cisely.

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

I thought Showgirls was fun. I mean...Kyle McLachlan (or however you spell it) is a hottie. HOT.TIE.

childhood dream

[smaugchow.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Berkley was a child actor on Saved by the Bell, so millions of adolescent boys grew up wanking to thoughts of her. Then she does a movie where she is naked most of the time, making millions of dreams come true.

And the problem is.....?

Few movies are art. Most are the result of somebody thinking, "You know what would be REALLY cool?" and then penning a script based on what they want to see. That or, "You know what would make a CRAP TON of money?"

I'm a forgiving soul in the cinema. There are only a few movies I have seen where I really wanted my time and money back. Showgirls had enough nudity to satisfy, so I got no gripes.