“Does that mean I won’t like Eastern Promises?”

I’ll go along with Kurt on this. It IS difficult to say. They are two completely different movies that really only share a similar tone and Viggo Mortensen. Also, like Kurt said EP has a much more conventional (ie - predictable as hell and cliche) structure. If you like mafia-esque movies (lower guys trying to figure out how to get higher up and innocent people trying to be tough and smart without getting killed), you’ll probably like this a lot. I wouldn’t compare it to AHoV at all, except that it happens to be Cronenberg.

On documentaries…I try to watch them regularly but must admit that it’s sometimes an effort, especially when the selection is limited and I find I have to have some interest in the subject to actually sit down and invest the time to see it. I’ve seen a few recently that I quite enjoyed including “Heavy Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey” which was wonderfully entertaining and “Scared Sacred” about finding religion amids war, terror and depression). Happy to hear you guys mention “Paradise Lost”. I saw that earlier this year and WOW, just WOW. Amazing. I’m trying to track down copies of the other docs but they haven’t been easy to find.

As far as films I’m looking forward to….my list is pretty much a copy of both of yours but “Atonement” and “There Will Be Blood” are right at the top. Thankfully, I only have a few more hours to wait to see “Atonement”!

Great show guys!

Sheez, I never realized he did Gothika. I might have actually caught it if I had known that. Good thing I didn’t.

La Haine sounds pretty interesting I might have to check it out when I get the chance.

I think I’m going to have to start making a list of movies I want to see soon. I keep hearing about stuff that sounds good and then I don’t think about it till months (or years) later.

Gaspar Noe, I’m highly familiar with though, I’m a big fan and supporter of Irreversible, despite the hard nature of that film and the difficult visuals. I liked its point (even it it is very heavy handed about it) and I like his brand of extreme filmmaking with established stars (Bellucci and Cassell)…Noe is like earlier Cronenberg, looking to shock people visually with interesting thoughts under-neath about the thin line between humanity and reptiles.

as for Eastern Promises, I have to side with Andrew… but I would go further, I do not understand much of the enthusiasm for Cronenberg, particularly A History of Violence. I found it creaky and formulaic, and working with archetypes at the risk of having interesting characters who can dimensionally mull over the significance of violence, an important topic for sure. Eastern Promises was a step up from Violence, and it is at least an entertaining straightforward gangster picture with one great fight sequence. But I do not see the weightiness to it that I know many do. Also I anticipated everything that was going to happen long before it did, and I can never do that, so I found that a problem as well.

I think Andrew and I are going to disagree on that though. He sounded like he wanted something in Eastern Promises like the action sequence so that it would explain Viggo’s character taking over the mob.

Have you seen The Crimson Rivers Kurt? Its a Jean Reno/Vincent Cassel crime flick thats pretty good.

Or how about Irreversible? Its something along the lines of Memento as it is shown in reverse order for time but it is also much darker.

Eastern Promises has a more conventional structure compared to AHoV, it fits easier into the gangster genre while at the same time subverting the whole thing.

Seriously though I couldn’t stand that film. Does that mean I won’t like Eastern Promises?

I am a person who watched that version without having seen the Grindhouse one and for me it works absolutely fine as a movie all by itself. Once I see the Grindhouse version (when it eventuall comes out on DVD) I will probably compare like you guys said. But for a Tarantino fan that is ALWAYS fun