08-03-2009, 03:40 PM
<!--quoteo(post=55143:date=Aug 3 2009, 02:19 PM:name=Coldneck)-->QUOTE (Coldneck @ Aug 3 2009, 02:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I don't disagree with any of that Butch. Scorsese > Fincher by a mile. I just don't see what you see in that clip you posted. I guess that is why it's your favorite movie and I think is just pretty good.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Fair enough.
I also think my definition of what is scary is a little different from what most people think. Horror movies rarely scare me. Shock, startle, repulse? Absolutely. And I love horror movies. A movie like Taxi Driver is really scary to me because it's just about a (somewhat) regular guy who has a hard time fitting in and relating to people. It also deals with more common themes that most people have to deal with in their own lives -- isolation, paranoia, jealousy, etc. He isn't a psychopath -- he's just a guy that has spiraled out of control. To contrast that with Seven -- John Doe didn't seem like a real guy to me (even his name suggests this). He was more like the personification of evil. It was effective, and I had an incredibly visceral reaction to Seven when I first saw it. And the ending was damn-near perfect.
The most effective scene in Taxi Driver, to me, was when Travis calls Betsy on the pay phone and as he's talking to her (you can only hear his end of the conversation), the camera slowly pans away from him to look down the long, empty hallway. The rejection is too much for the camera (or the audience) to bear. But when he goes on the rampage at the end, in contrast, Scorsese films a lot of it in slow motion, so the audience sees it all. The contrast of those two scenes makes each one that much more meaningful.
So, the Scorsese/cheating wife scene. Not only do I think Scorsese amps up the tension to an almost unbearable level -- the way Scorsese keeps repeating himself as Travis just listens and looks, but you can see that in some way a tiny seed has been planted in Travis's mind there. That becomes clear when he buys the guns from the guy later in the film.
That's the kind of thing that's scary to me. Travis, this lonely, isolated guy feels powerless and rejected. But he finds a source of power and comfort in buying a bunch of guns. That feels much more real to me. In fact, the two kids from the Columbine tragedy? I'd say there's a pretty strong parallel there.
Seven is almost more of an allegory, IMO. Again, I'm not saying it isn't an incredibly effective movie. It is. It just didn't scare me as much as Taxi Driver.
All of that said, I will again emphasize that I recognize subjectivity in film. My take isn't necessarily the right take.
Fair enough.
I also think my definition of what is scary is a little different from what most people think. Horror movies rarely scare me. Shock, startle, repulse? Absolutely. And I love horror movies. A movie like Taxi Driver is really scary to me because it's just about a (somewhat) regular guy who has a hard time fitting in and relating to people. It also deals with more common themes that most people have to deal with in their own lives -- isolation, paranoia, jealousy, etc. He isn't a psychopath -- he's just a guy that has spiraled out of control. To contrast that with Seven -- John Doe didn't seem like a real guy to me (even his name suggests this). He was more like the personification of evil. It was effective, and I had an incredibly visceral reaction to Seven when I first saw it. And the ending was damn-near perfect.
The most effective scene in Taxi Driver, to me, was when Travis calls Betsy on the pay phone and as he's talking to her (you can only hear his end of the conversation), the camera slowly pans away from him to look down the long, empty hallway. The rejection is too much for the camera (or the audience) to bear. But when he goes on the rampage at the end, in contrast, Scorsese films a lot of it in slow motion, so the audience sees it all. The contrast of those two scenes makes each one that much more meaningful.
So, the Scorsese/cheating wife scene. Not only do I think Scorsese amps up the tension to an almost unbearable level -- the way Scorsese keeps repeating himself as Travis just listens and looks, but you can see that in some way a tiny seed has been planted in Travis's mind there. That becomes clear when he buys the guns from the guy later in the film.
That's the kind of thing that's scary to me. Travis, this lonely, isolated guy feels powerless and rejected. But he finds a source of power and comfort in buying a bunch of guns. That feels much more real to me. In fact, the two kids from the Columbine tragedy? I'd say there's a pretty strong parallel there.
Seven is almost more of an allegory, IMO. Again, I'm not saying it isn't an incredibly effective movie. It is. It just didn't scare me as much as Taxi Driver.
All of that said, I will again emphasize that I recognize subjectivity in film. My take isn't necessarily the right take.