Steven Spielberg Vs. Martin Scorsese? What's your Take?

This is one thread that seems to be worth the reading time.

I am a Spielberg fan. I appreciate Scorsese but only like his movies in doses. His update of Mou Gan Dou as The Departed was pretty good and I like the spin he put on it. Spielberg annoys and thrills with equal vigour. I like the fact that he reined in Michael Bay on Transformers a bit but he gets sloppy with his endings though when he takes the mickey out of people like in Minority Report, very few people seem to notice/get it. I'm trying hard to be patient ahead of Indy 4 sha 

I love oldies. Last time I was in the UK I blew all my money buying Casablanca, The Big Sleep, an Audrey Hepburn's movie boxset, The King and I, It's a Wonderful Life and a few other movies I wanted to collect. Older movies have much better dialogue and pacing and Frank Capra is the only director that came closest to making me spill "eye- water" for a movie or two.

There are some exceptional "new-school" directors out there now that I follow: Christopher Nolan, Doug Liman, Brad Bird and Paul Greengrass have my eye.

Hi iice!

Whoa, I see you fellas have been real busy without me. I don't even know where to start. Nice to know iice is cool with me, lol. I'm sure I mentioned Peter Jackson in my almighty list of seven. His fatherly appearance appeals to me (I still got a father though), what, with the beard and all. Viggo Mortensen has always seemed to me to be out of this world. I like the way he doesn't talk too much in his roles. Like the ones he did with Sigourney Weaver (even though it was a love story), and Syl Stallone and of course Hidalgo. Nice guy, kind of like Steven Segal.

Who likes happy ending anymore anyway, especially in action movies. I can appreciate happy endings in love stories because the parties involved usually deserve to be together (if they don't end up together, at least one of em should bite the dust) But kick-ass films like The Hannibal series shouldn't have happy endings (also you can hope for another addition to the series). It's weird that akin007 couldn't find Thomas Harris' books(silence of the lambs), I have got everything he wrote, Red Dragon, Hannibal, Black Monday and the culprit, SOTL. Isn't it weird that the guy wrote only about this Hannibal guy, maybe he's been dreaming about him for ages. take into consideration that his books are 5 years at least in between. The first Black Monday being in the late 70's or early 80's I think, and Hannibal 200?

I read as much as i watch movies, because I think books can be more stimulating sometimes and besides some books can simply not be made into movies. Ideas by my favorite author (RIP) Ludlum can not be easily adapted into films because he has a knack for world domination plots and his characters are always popping up over the globe (His favorite places seem to be Geneva and Paris) If akin007 is an ardent fan of the literary world as I think he is, then we have a lot to talk about.

Talking about graphic novels, Frank Miller is definitely the king of the genre as I'm sure that iice will attest to. His work was reason for Sin City being my second favorite movie of all time. (Ladykillers is my first, most people are surprised by that, but I thought Tom hanks was unbelievably awesome, and it's like one of the few movies I can watch twice in a month, I usually leave movies till like 6 months at least)

The Saint was a very cool movie, especially for the year in which it came out. Val Kilmer was great. Speaking of the guy, what's up with him anyway. is he retired or does he simply get no more roles or what? Can any of y'all give me answers ?

BTW y'all should have more respect for SIR Anthony Hopkins, lol.

Asta la vista, babies!

Hey hey! before you all start comparing directors, look at their backgrounds, eg Scorcese started from editing and Spielberg did traditional film, that should make them totally distinctly different. And by the way, I havent seen anyone talk about greats like: Michael Mann and Stanley Kubrick. Anyways, people all have their choices.

Oh it's definitely great to hear from you guys and i's even better for me to be back after those 3 days in limbo. Unfortunately I'm having major problems with the wireless connections settings on my laptop so here I am using my friend's. It's not like before and I don't want him to think I'm addicted to this site. He even threatened to post some crazy stuff about me and about iice 'stealing me from him' as I don't come to his office again. Enough of all that digression. How are y'all doing, BTW. akin007 and iice it's very nice to hear from you. I don't know why the Ladykillers has such an effect on me but I guess it's different strokes for different folks. iice I envy you tremendously for seeing that movie. I'm still waiting for Nu Metro to start showing it. But if I have to wait too long, I'll result to our friendly neighbourhood bootleggers. To make a short story even shorter, I agree with essentially everything y'all said, especially akin007. That explanation about Casino Royale being Ian Fleming's first book makes a lot of sense but I'm sure it's just a coincidence and that's not why Craig was such gorilla. Not that he's bad or anything, I just hate to see the 007 culture ruined. So much for a short story! I'll see you guys tomorrow, huh?

How are y'all doing?
I was thinking yesterday of what to say today and I realised that this topic is beginning to get redundant, don't y'all think so? Now here's what we'll do. What do you guys say if we turn it up or down or even sideways a notch. Here's what we'll do. How about we talk about sitcoms and sci-fi series and series in general. That, I trust opens up a whole new vista of stuff to talk about. Am I right or am I right? Okay to open up shop I'll give y'all some food for thought. I want to know what you guys think about the dissolution of the 'Friends' Do you think it's too soon or do you think they've pushed their luck so far. how about Grey's anatomy, is it over-rated or what? One of my favorites, Medium, just tell me what you think about that. I personally think Patricia Arquette is a octagonal peg in an octagonal hole. Considering that her career has not been hitherto inspiring, I just love her in Medium. You'd think somebody casted a film for her and not casting her for the show.

Now on to what I'm addicted to most, Star Trek, voyager to be precise. Woo! That subject feels like talking about chocolate. I hope at least one of y'all will have some iota of interest in that show. I used to like 'the next generation' because they have very interesting characters, Data and Lt. Worf being the most interesting, Deep Space Nine is cool too but things are too peaceful around there for my liking. I guess they can't afford to have anything happen to the space station as that will mess up (sorry) the longevity of the story, because after all it is stationary, the space station that is. The new one, Enterprise, didn't really work for me, I don't know why, but it's just like that. The other Gene Roddenberry project, Earth: Final conflict gets a five out of five from me. Pure genius, that guy.

I usually read my text again before posting. Reading back on what I've written now, it all makes sense to me, but I hope that it's not all gibberish to you guys. If it is, then just pretend as if I didn't post anything today.

Tomorrow's in like seven hours from now, I'll see y'all nine hours into it. You guys take it easy.

My last post seems to be something else. I think i might be in a world of my own. Too bad. Anyways here's something that everybody can relate to. It is very hard for me to think of a director that never seems to get it wrong. One of such apart from QT whom y'all know is Luc Besson. You know the french dude. Favorite movie of his was this french flick, Banlieu 13, which he produced. I was happy the set and language were both french, escaping the monotony of the American entertainment industry. Though he has worked with people on some hollywood (The Transporter-as a writer, Taxi-as God knows what). I love the guy, basic.

That's just too bad. I seem to be in a world of my own. Taken at least is a point of convergence for us. Though I love it for more reasons than one. You mentioned before that you liked Taken. Anyway nobody else is talkin'. It there a muting spell cast that I seem to have escaped? Methinks me might not be safe for long. What do you have to say about Luc Besson anyway? This might be shortest post ever. let's see,

I sincerely hope y'all had a very nice weekend. God knows I did. Now don't go asking what I did because I'm not that exotic. That's that! Spikyn seemed to be flattered by something I said. cool! But I'm sure it sounds better because it's written and if I had said it, I might have stuttered, whatever it was I said. On her question, about the best Nigeria made stuff i've seen lately, that's like the hardest question because even if there were good stuff available I probably wouldn't even know about it because similar to iice I rarely find myself in a position to know these things. Anyway it's inevitable to run across somethings.

The best movies I've come across are Diamond Ring, Dangerous Twins, some Mainframe pictures and that's it. Best sitcom in Naija as far as I'm concerned is one Love and and finito, they remain true to their moral stories. Not intellectually challenging but good for kids. P.S. I used to like New masquerade in those days and Things Fall Apart, we do not have literally sound film makers anymore, just eastern crap, no offence to the Ibo folk.

iice, iice, iice, your ladyship. I could do with hooking up with your friends who you say are fanatics about sci-fi. At the moment it seems only I and my brother are the only ones who love this stuff. What's this Ratatouille about anyway? Could you guys give me more detail. The name sounds french. Is it a french movie because i love them. Speaking of foreign movies, have you seen Open Your Eyes? It's a spanish film where the idea for Vanilla Sky was gotten from. Incidentally that's the first role I ever saw Penelope Cruz in. Funny that Tom Cruise should be in the remake and they should hook up. Talk about providence.

Akin007 or better known as Seun, how are you doing? it's very good to know that you're a fellow in the struggle, lol.

lawyer, I cannot believe that you don't like Minority Report! I found the movie pretty good. And I'm not just saying this because I love Stevie. Why don't you guys appreciate the mind twisting plot. I'm not the number one fan of Tom Cruise but his performance was more than passable. There was all in all nothing I could complain about in the movie really. But anybody who calls Minority Report stupid will have to answer to me.

Francis Ford Coppola, if you cared to read my initial topic, was the seventh on my Almighty list. That's not because he's any less than his mates but he is just like spikyn said, he ain't active no more. The latest thing he directed, at least that I can remember is Dracula (Bram Stoker's version) and that was ages ago.

George Lucas' best movie by my reckoning was Willow. All these Star Wars series were not bad but not spectacular. And I couldn't make up my mind whether the story was a fairy tale or sci-fi. Cute little robots with real bad-ass villains. The only one I really liked were The Empire Strikes back and the other one, I forget. I personally don't rate a director's prowess by special effects but by dialogue and screenplay. Star wars? Too much special effects, too little talk. That's why I won't include War of the worlds or the infamous Minority Report among Stevie's best work. Saving Private Ryan is really, really great. ET? classic! and some others. George Lucas is more like a master in the epic scene, finito.

akin, I'd seen Brotherhood of the wolf like three years ago. I liked it, and I like Mark Damascus too.
Talking about Milla Jovovich, akin. I think she's up again for yet another Resident Evil, flick. I don't know what this one will be called or how they're going to manage to get a tenable story out of it. But, oh well, guess it's a money making venture, right? Don't know what's going on. It's like there are very few stories around nowadays with all these trilogies and quadrologies. Which reminds me of this movie with Sharon Stone, Albert Brooks and Andy MacDowell. The Muse, I think. No more stories, people!
It's great you should mention Gary Oldman, because I think he deserves the most impressive and believable villain of all time award. Very long award, that. Him as Sirius was very good adaptation. I had read that book before seeing the movie. So I found it funny how my metal projection of Sirius was very similar to the screen version. Nice work as always, Gary. Good old Gary. Bad old Gary. Take your pick.

To wrap it up, our princess is mute today. We better all go out hunting for the proverbial cat! hiya iice.

P.S.

>>>On George Lucas, I don't think on any level does he come close to either Spielberg or Scorsese. He was going to be an enduring great but after the travesties that were his prequels, case closed. If you subtract them from his resumeë then he's pretty good as a producer.<<<

What better way, what better way!

Nice to have you back, iice, even though its in the interim. I'm afraid I was reluctant to bring up De Palma earlier because he's not as critically acclaimed as he deserves. And I like it when people know what the hell I'm talking about, so they can then even begin to like it, which I like even better.

De Palma's resume is fat to say th least as I'm still not a walking encyclopaedia on the fella. But I know a few of his movies that should have made him a household name like Scorsese; Black Dahlia, Carrie (Travolta & Spacek-who's creepy in real life- were awesome. iice, I hope your new signature wasn't inspired by that movie because that'll replace my previous 'firsts' on ya), Scarface (arguably his best known), Wise Guys & The Untouchables (Scorsese contenders) and M:I which should have worked if all else failed. Anyway I guess s**t happens.

On Darren, I don't know much about him save that he has a knack for making something out of nothing. I've never heard of anybody making a film with a budget less than a hundred large and it ever making a ripple in the ocean. Aronofsky can do this. He also had some very good ideas but they mostly didn't see the light of day. why? you guessed it, no cheese! That's why I'm especially happy with the release of The Fountain casting my personal friends, Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman, lol. Speaking of Hugh, I think he's possibly the sexiest man breathing right now, healthy mix of gentlemanliness and tough guy. and that killer accent. Thank goodness I ain't a girl or I might never get married. Back on the road, Fountain is really great, y'all go see it.

Ang Lee, though last is definitely not the least. If for no other reason, his Oscar speaks for itself. Being the first Asian to win it makes the Oscar's voice even louder. Though I personally think the special effects in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon insulted my intelligence, I think the story is simply beautiful. I suspect there might have been an ancient book that they drew some inspiration from. His Oscar winning film Brokeback has not graced my viewing, though. I wonder why as much you do. Oh I love this country, you can watch any film on a little more than willpower. Friendly neighbourhood pirates, gotta love em.

I'm trying my damnest to keep this short and I'm thinking what better way than to call it quits, huh? ciao!

Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman are both not of American origin and I love actors that are so; Hopkins, Connery, Brosnan, Michael Caine(we'll talk about him later) As for Rachel and Jackman not getting so many roles, they're both relatively new actors and it cannot be expected that would get so many roles in such a hurry and to be fair to them both, more than twenty movies between them that were mainly top box-office hits doesn't qualify them as unknown. The Fountain's great I assure you.

As for other films that Hugh was in, Kate & Leopold with Meg Ryan and he got himself nominated for a Golden Globe for that (unlucky bloke), The Prestige (recommended), Scoop, Someone like you, The tourist recently, and oh yeah, he was in Happy Feet. His career started in 1995 in some measly series and being an Aussie (like Gibson) it might be hard to get discovered (really discovered).

As for Rachel, she won an Academy for Pete's sake! (Even Jenny Hudson is a big shot now for nabbing an Oscar). Plus a Globe too for the same role in the same category ( best supporting actress) in the movie, The constant gardener. Enemy at the Gates and Eragon are also in her resume.

Speaking of John Woo, I was saving him for later but, now, it seems, is as good a time as any. He's great, considering. Has an effortlessly good eye for kick ass scenes with the very least of special effects, which is the main reason why I respect him. He has been known as the Asian rep somewhat like Spike Lee for black folks.