You are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

argosciv ago

Continued (2/2)

Popeye | Weinstein | Anderson | Wonderland: .

Film plot: (spoiler alert)

Popeye, a sailor, arrives at the small coastal town of Sweethaven ("Sweethaven—An Anthem") while searching for his long-lost father. He is immediately feared by the townsfolk simply because he is a stranger ("Blow Me Down"), and is accosted by a greedy taxman. He rents a room at the Oyl family's boarding house where the Oyls' daughter, Olive, is preparing for her engagement party. Her hand is promised to Captain Bluto, a powerful, perpetually angry bully who runs the town in the name of the mysterious Commodore. In the morning, Popeye visits the local diner for breakfast ("Everything Is Food") and demonstrates his strength as he brawls with a gang of provocative ruffians who give him and the other customers a hard time.

On the night of the engagement party, Bluto and the townsfolk arrive at the Oyls' home. Olive sneaks out of the house, after discovering that the only attribute she can report for her bullying fiancé is size ("He's Large"). She encounters Popeye, who failed to fit in with the townsfolk at the party. The two eventually come across an abandoned baby in a basket. Popeye adopts the child, naming him Swee'Pea, and the two return to the Oyls' home. Bluto has grown increasingly furious with Olive's absence. He realizes that she means to break off the engagement. He eventually flies into a rage and destroys the house ("I'm Mean"). When he sees Popeye and Olive with Swee'Pea, Bluto beats Popeye into submission and declares heavy taxation for the Oyls.

The taxman repossesses the remains of the Oyls' home and all their possessions. The Oyls' son, Castor, decides to compete against the local heavyweight boxer, Oxblood Oxheart, in the hopes of winning a hefty prize for his family. Castor is no match for Oxheart and is savagely beaten and knocked out of the ring. Popeye takes the ring in Castor's place and defeats Oxheart, putting on a show for the townsfolk and finally earning their respect. Back at home, Popeye and Olive sing Swee'Pea to sleep ("Sailin'").

The next day, Olive tells Popeye that during his match with Oxheart, she discovered that Swee'Pea can predict the future by whistling when he hears the correct answer to a question. Wimpy, the local con artist and petty gambler, overhears and asks to take Swee'Pea out for a walk, though he actually takes him to the "horse races" (actually a mechanical carnival horse game) and wins two games. Popeye is outraged, and vents his frustrations to the racing parlor's customers ("I Yam What I Yam"). Fearing further exploitation of his child, Popeye moves out of the Oyls' home and onto the docks; when the taxman harasses him, Popeye pushes him into the water, prompting a celebration by the townspeople. In the chaos, Wimpy, who has been intimidated by Bluto, kidnaps Swee'Pea for him. That night, Olive remarks to herself about her budding relationship with Popeye ("He Needs Me"), while Popeye writes a message in a bottle for Swee'Pea ("Swee'Pea's Lullaby").

Wimpy sees Bluto taking Swee'Pea into the Commodore's ship; he and Olive inform Popeye. Inside, Bluto presents the boy to the curmudgeonly Commodore, promising that he is worth a fortune; however, the Commodore refuses to listen, reminding Bluto that his buried treasure is all the fortune he needs. His patience with the Commodore exhausted, Bluto ties him up and takes Swee'Pea himself ("It's Not Easy Being Me"). Popeye storms the ship and meets the Commodore, realizing that he is his father, Poopdeck Pappy. Pappy initially denies that Popeye is his son; to prove it, Pappy tries to feed Popeye canned spinach, which he claims is his family's source of great strength. Popeye hates spinach and refuses to eat it. Bluto kidnaps Olive as well and sets sail to find Pappy's treasure. Popeye, Pappy, Wimpy and the Oyl family board Pappy's ship to give pursuit. Bluto sails to Scab Island, a desolate island in the middle of the ocean, while Pappy argues with his son and rants about children ("Kids").

Popeye catches Bluto and fights him, but despite his determination, Popeye is overpowered. During the duel, Pappy recovers his treasure and opens the chest to reveal a collection of personal sentimental items from Popeye's infancy, including a few cans of spinach. A gigantic octopus awakens and attacks Olive from underwater (after Pappy saves Swee'Pea from a similar fate). With Popeye in a choke hold, Pappy throws him a can of spinach; Bluto, recognizing Popeye's dislike for spinach, force-feeds him the can before throwing him into the water. The spinach revitalizes Popeye and boosts his strength; he knocks Bluto down in one punch, then swiftly deals with the giant octopus, sending it flying hundreds of feet into the air. Bluto turns yellow and he swims away as Popeye celebrates his victory and his new-found appreciation of spinach ("Popeye the Sailor Man").

Paul Thomas Anderson

Shortened and formatted for emphasis:

Influences and style

Influences

Anderson only attended film school for two days, preferring to learn the craft by watching films by the filmmakers he liked, as well as watching films accompanied by director's audio commentary.[5][11][12] Anderson has cited Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, Max Ophüls and Robert Downey, Sr. as his main influences as a filmmaker.[88][9][23][89]


Early Career

At the Sundance Feature Film Program, Michael Caton-Jones served as Anderson's mentor; he saw Anderson as someone with "talent and a fully formed creative voice but not much hands-on experience" and gave him some hard and practical lessons.


Worlds collide in 3... 2... 1...

Michael Caton-Jones | Harvey Weinstein:

Michael Caton-Jones (born Michael Jones; 15 October 1957[1] in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland) is a Scottish film director.

Creative Differences

In October 2017, Michael Caton-Jones revealed that he had chosen the actress, Sophie Okonedo, to star in B. Monkey. However, the producer, Harvey Weinstein, decided the actress wasn’t "fuckable". Caton-Jones and Weinstein discussed the matter heatedly, and Caton-Jones said, "'Don’t screw up the casting of this film because you want to get laid', whereupon he went mental." Weinstein then leaked to Variety that Caton-Jones had walked off the movie due to "creative differences". Asia Argento, who replaced Okonedo, was one of three women who in 2017 were reported in The New Yorker to have been raped by Weinstein; she said that she submitted to Weinstein because, "I felt I had to, because I had the movie coming out and I didn’t want to anger him."[2]


Paul Thomas Anderson | Wonderland

Boogie Nights(1997 film)

Boogie Nights is a 1997 American drama film written, produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, chronicling his rise in the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s through to his fall during the excesses of the 1980s. The film is an expansion of Anderson's mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story (1988).[3][4][5][6] It stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heather Graham.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 1997 and was released on October 10, 1997, and garnered critical acclaim. It was also nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Anderson, Best Supporting Actress for Moore and Best Supporting Actor for Reynolds. The film's soundtrack also received acclaim.

Wonderland(2003 film)

Wonderland is a 2003 American crime drama film, co-written and directed by James Cox and based on the real-life Wonderland Murders that occurred in 1981. The film stars Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Carrie Fisher, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Tim Blake Nelson, and Janeane Garofalo. Kilmer plays the role of John Holmes, a pornographic film star and suspected accomplice in four grisly murders committed in an apartment on Wonderland Avenue, in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles. Mr. Holmes was famous for playing the role of "Johnny Wadd" in a related series of pornographic adult films.

Wonderland Murders

The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders[1] or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981.[2] It is assumed that five people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, three of whom were present. All three of them, Ron Launius, Billy DeVerell, and Joy Miller, along with accomplice Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Only Ron Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. He, his henchman Gregory Diles,[3][4] and porn star John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders. LAPD detectives were on record saying the crime scene was bloodier and more gruesome than that of the Tate-LaBianca murders.[5]