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The Sort Of News That Just Plain Makes You Smile... New JEUNET Film Announced!!

Published at:  Oct 10, 2002 9:41:25 AM CDT

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.



Jean-Pierre Jeunet is one of my favorite working filmmakers. DELICATESSEN is a delight, and CITY OF LOST CHILDREN is one of my favorite fantasy films of all time, in any language. AMELIE was, of course, an utter joy last year, a fairy tale for adults that was impeccably imagined, visually ravishing.



I don’t care what his next property is. All that matters is that he’s chosen something, and he’s getting ready to work again. Whatever it is, I’ll see it as soon as humanly possible, and I can’t freakin’ WAIT!



HERE’S THE STORY THAT I ORIGINALLY READ!!


PARIS (Variety) - "Amelie" writer/director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has signed a production deal with the French arm of Warner Bros. for his next film, an adaptation of bestseller "A Very Long Engagement."


Jeunet is writing the screenplay for the French-language picture, which will be shot next year in France, Warner Bros. France chief Francis Boespflug said Tuesday.


"Engagement," written by Sebastian Japrisot, is a love story set during World War I. Winner of the Grand Prix Interallie literary prize in 1991, it went on to be a worldwide bestseller.


Okay. Guess I’m taking a trip to the bookstore immediately, just so I can get a look at the underlying material.



"Moriarty" out.










    + Expand All

    Readers Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 10:00:04 AM CDT

    I know I'm not the only person in the world that didn't

    by mr_ant

    and Jeunet ruined, fucking ruined the last alen film. It made Alien 3 look like a masterpiece, and until then I had thought that it was Fincher that had ruined the series...

    How can you rant and scream about Paul Anderson doing Alien versus Predator when it was Jeunet that destroyed the franchise...?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 10:06:38 AM CDT

    Source Material Excerpts

    by kage

    Amazon has a few pages online at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0452272971/ref=lib_rd_ss/103-9856275-1509462?v=glance&vi=slide-show#reader-link


    And to the above poster who didn't like Ameli

    Reply to Talkback

  • And that's a fact.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 10:21:00 AM CDT

    Deja vu...

    by spinza

    Uh, you ran this before, quite some time ago...

    http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=11681

    Great news that its coming along though, the book is wonderful.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 11:09:43 AM CDT

    Amelie...

    by mr_ant

    I fully accept I'm in a minority here. I would have preferred the film if it had ended like Last Exit to Brooklyn... Amelie was too saccharine for my taste.

    I do agree though that Whedon deserves a good deal of blame regarding Alien Resurrection. But Jeunet couldn't speak English when he directed the film. And it turned out crap - anyone surprised?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Ahead of Star Wars. Ahead of Potter. Ahead of the Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, James Bond, Superman, the first two Batman movies, the Naked Gun, The Man With No Name, both Toy Stories, or any other franchise you can name. That is why I LOATHE the fourth film so much. But the thing is, the fourth film was shot beautifully. On a pure cinematography level, Alien Resurrection is a beautiful film. It was the SCRIPT. You can't fault a Belgian for not realizing that Joss Whedon's script in English just plain SUCKED. I'm sorry, it did. It killed the franchise, which was ironic, considering the franchise died a wonderfully noble and perfect death at the end of ALIEN CUBED. They brought it back, to kill it stupid. And I love Buffy, I think Whedon does a phenomenal job on that show, but make no mistake about where the blame lies for ALIEN RESURRECTION, and it isn't Jeunet. Oh, and AMELIE was one of the best movies of last year.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 11:24:51 AM CDT

    just got the delicatessen/amelie box set yesterday...

    by erik_richmond

    juenet is a genius, one of the best visual directors ever. was just wondering this morning what he was going to do next. his commentary on amelie is great. the guy seems totally down to earth, smart and very honest, you guys are really missing out if the american dvd doesn't have this on it. very funny. he talks about how about 15 percent of the script is lost in the subtitle translation. "oh well, what a pity. Maybe should just learn to speak french..."

    Reply to Talkback

  • "We're conspiring to overthrow the government, brother-san."

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 11:59:06 AM CDT

    David Twohy's "Alien 3" Script

    by the feral kid

    Was so damn good, really good. Thing was, it had none of the original Alien characters. Oh, and I personally felt that Aliens killed the series, artistically that is. Yeah, it is a fun movie, but no masterpiece, at least not in my opinion. Personally, I like Fincher's film much more. The scene with the flares and explosives, very very visually ambitious. And it had the audacity to kill off the kid. The ending of Twohy's script has a lot of mutant aliens which ends up sort of like a gimmick but overall, very very fun and scary. In the first fifty pages there are some of the best sci-fi images I've ever read in a script. The atmosphere built was very oppresive, very dark. The best thing about "Alien 3" the actual movie though is the actual alien that is very similar to a feral dog, a canine. Chris Cunningham, please give us a fucking Neuromancer movie we can be proud of. Oh yeah, on that note, William Gibson's script for Alien 3 is really really bad. Really. I just find it interesting how these films have pulled in some of the most visually talented directors of their generation.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:01:23 PM CDT

    I thought he was more like a French Alex Proyas...

    by half vader

    ...on the other hand Alex likes to use French artists so maybe that disqualifies him. Um, that's all.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:05:33 PM CDT

    I LIKED Alien: Ressurection

    by rev_skarekroe

    Right up until the bit with the newborn alien. After that, whew. sk

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:14:48 PM CDT

    Mr. Ant

    by glass

    I didn't like Amelie Schmamelie either. It was SOOO PRECIOUS...made me sick. Audrey Poopoo stinks like sour milk.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:31:21 PM CDT

    Mr Ant , you are not alone. I loathe Amelie with a passion

    by orson w

    A self-centered, navel-gazing sadistic little bitch. Why people admire this movie completely baffles me. Even if we ignore the poisonous central character, there is still the matter of the unapologetic racism at the core of the movie (Paris with only white French people? Hello?) I could not believe that Amelie didn't meet a nasty end in the movie (falling under the wheels of a train for example) - which would have been exactly what she deserved.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:36:10 PM CDT

    Finally

    by glass

    Orson W and Mr. Ant, my new buddies, it's nice to hear some sense and rationality regarding Amelie, the most overrated movie of all-time. CA-RAP. I was so pissed I spent 10 bucks to see this little slut widen her eyes and make everyone love her. Stupid bitch. Stop being cute, Audrey Shit Bag, you reek.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:41:41 PM CDT

    So....

    by dinoguy

    Big, fucking deal. So what the fuck is the novel about? Huh? Anybody know?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 12:46:35 PM CDT

    Ressurrection

    by spamgelus

    20th Century Fox ruined Alien: Ressurrection.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 1:32:50 PM CDT

    Thanks for the link Jeff Fries...

    by orson w

    ...but I think his criticism of Amelie doesn't go far enough. I have lived in Paris for years and am in a position to appreciate just how vile this movie is. As for the character of Amelie herself: I have unfortunately encountered this kind of specimen of 'Parisienne' many times in real life. Self-obsessed, 'cute', vindictive little bitches. The depiction in the movie is all too accurate. Amelie is an emotion-sucking vampire who preys on the weak and vulnerable to make herself feel good. And so she goes around manipulating and tormenting these people so as to drink in the emotional fallout. As for the rest of the movie: I can tell you that there's absolutely no excuse for whitewashing Paris. Despite the protests of the film's director, you have to go to a huge amount trouble to make it look like there are no ethnic minorities in Paris. The ethnic cleansing is deliberate. Because Jeunet wants his Paris to look 'beautiful' and dark-skinned people make it look ugly. There is no other possible reason for removing the many ethnic minorities. In the context of modern-day France, this movie is racist propaganda.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 1:51:13 PM CDT

    Jeunet was PERFECT for ALIEN RESSURECTION...

    by thepoleofjustice

    ...but the film had too many inherent flaws (COUGHwinonaryderCOUGH) for the whole package to work. I actually thought there were some great ideas in there (SPOILER making the alien death borderline sympathetic) but the script had too much self-conscious weirdness going on. Jeunet is all about self conscious weirdness, I understand, but his treatment of it in A:R makes me think he knew it wasn't appropriate for that story, but was forced to deal with it due to the structure of the narrative.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 1:55:39 PM CDT

    Everyone else beat me to it!

    by one9deuce

    Mr_ant, everyone knows that Joss Whedon's script for Alien: Resurrection was a terrible piece of crap. Nobody could have made that garbage screenplay into something great. I love the first two Alien films, and I hate the fourth so much it hurts, but it did look fantastic. As far as Amelie, it really was sort of a tragedy until Amelie herself changed her own life by taking action. I would think that Jeunet is an existentialist. Circumstances made her into a sort of recluse, and when fate brought that little box of treasures to her, she changed her own life herself. It has a happy ending because the whole point of the film is that you CAN bring happiness to yourself if you make the effort.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 2:04:59 PM CDT

    The only happiness

    by glass

    I could possibly create for myself after watching that movie, buddy, is to see Amelie in a similar position to Frida when she was impaled by a metal post.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 2:11:25 PM CDT

    Missing the point?...

    by mogwai

    I loved Amelie, thought it was a perfect little piece of cinema. As for her being a "vindictive bitch" didn't anyone notice that all the people she messed with DESERVED IT?!!!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 2:44:38 PM CDT

    Mogwai, I think you've missed the point

    by orson w

    Did the blind man deserve the cruel psychological torture Amelie inflicted on him? (She drags him along, tells him about the beauty of the world which he will NEVER be able to see - and then she dumps him!) Did the woman whose husband left her deserve to be made to believe that the cheating bastard actually loved her? (When what she really needed was to let go of the past and build a life for herself). Did her father deserve to be spitefully baited by the theft of his beloved garden gnomes? (They were all he had in his life to give him pleasure). No, Amelie is a thoughtless, meddling little bitch who only thinks of herself.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 2:44:45 PM CDT

    Jeunet aint' so bad.

    by murgatroid1

    Hey I haven't seen Amelia because it looked like a chic flick (so I'll have to see it I guess) but I do like his other works. So I'm glad to hear he's back again.

    As far as A4 goes: I'm with the person who liked it till the end when the stupid white monster shows up. Dumb. Frankly, I wish A4 would have had Riply waking up that A3 was just a dream and then have it follow the Dark Horse comic story line (MUCH BETTER). I hated Alien 3 from the start because they killed two of the main characters negating the second film and Riply's acting was forced. But that's just my opinion.

    City of Lost Children...the first Attack of The Clones... rules.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 2:54:07 PM CDT

    Amelie......

    by nuxx

    Was one of those few films that made me happy and optimistic after viewing it. Thats rare. If its too sweet for you, too bad. You missed something profound. Jeunet is a brilliant filmmaker, and not just for that one film.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:10:43 PM CDT

    I don't blame Jeunet for ALIEN RESURRECTION.

    by psyclops

    I did... until I saw the rest of his work. The man really is brilliant, just not the right person to helm an ALIEN movie. His vision was too bizarre, too 'out there' for the ALIEN series (which was always supposed to be dark and moody, not colorful and filled with odd camera angles). The guy is great though. Look forward to his next film.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:15:56 PM CDT

    Alien Ressurection is a fun B-movie

    by fatal discharge

    The horrible, boring and ugly film Alien 3 had already put a screeching halt to the series so I went into Ressurection looking for something fun and that's what I got. After Aliens there was no way to make them scary again as we knew everything about them already (that's why Alien 3 was so pointless). So they tried throwing in mixed human DNA of Ripley mixed with aliens which leads to a lot of interesting questions. Sure there are flaws in the film but the abundant humor, Sigourney's great performance and some nice action pieces (ahem, unlike the racing the alien through corridors and slamming doors to trap it idiocy of Alien 3) make it a FUN film for those who aren't dour anal-retentive humorless fans.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:22:51 PM CDT

    Amelie is a masturbatory fantasy for lonely French women

    by fd resurrected

    Ick. I saw Amelie at the screening last year and didn't like the movie at all. Two hot blonde young women sat behind me loved the movie and they oozed of orgasm. I'd agree with the posters above that Amelie is racist (sort of) and ultimately lame and schmaltzy. No wonder why Cannes 2001 program director rejected the movie submitted by Juenet which then released the movie early in France and for whatever reason it became a huge hit. I'm an admirer of Juenet up until Alien Resurrection which destroyed the Alien franchise once and for all. The shittiness of the fourth movie made Alien 3 look like a cinematic masterpiece (if only David Fincher had edited in more character development scenes that the studio omitted by force before theatrical release run). I was disappointed by Alien Resurrection and even more disappointed by Juenet's abortion of a fantasy about a mousy, self-absorbed little French bitch who wanted nothing more than self-exaltion of orgasmic feel-good helping a bunch of French idiots and her quest for the ultimate orgasm eventually get paid off by getting laid by a loser French dude at the end.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:27:54 PM CDT

    Amelie = Vomit

    by glass

    I hate it when chicks act like they're 2 years old. She acts like a fucking child in that movie, and we're supposed to think she's so shy and cute, when she's not.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:33:39 PM CDT

    The City of Lost Children

    by becky slater

    Alien SchmAlien! The City of Lost Children is my absolute favorite movie, so I'll see anything Jeunet does in the future. Everything about that movie was perfect--The concept, the sets, the acting, the effects, the fleas. Amazing. If his new movie is only half as good as The City of Lost Children its still worth my $10.50 plus a $4.00 Coke.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 3:51:36 PM CDT

    Your Amelie haters are weirdos.

    by rev_skarekroe

    I mean, really. It must be quite a chore to deliberately misinterpret a movie so as to develop the most negative possible opinion of it. sk

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 4:41:01 PM CDT

    I agree with Moriarity!

    by halloween68

    Jeunet is one of the best film makers out there today. I absolutely love every single one of his films. I even love AR because of the Jeunet touch on it. Just imagine if the film had a knock out script and a good soundtrack. The soundtrack on that film was one of the worst I've ever heard. (I do however second guess his visualization of that alien hybrid at the end; 'looked like something out of The Alien's Deadly Spawn part 2. Very cornball looking.) COTLC and Deli and Amelie are brilliant works of cinema!!! 'Can't wait for his next.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 6:37:33 PM CDT

    Psychiatrists should use "Amelie" to detect autism.

    by christopher3

    Tzell me about your muzzer. No? Ohkay...did you like "Amelie" or no? No?! Guards!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 7:00:31 PM CDT

    Marc Caro

    by joeypogi

    I liked Jeunet more when worked with Caro. They seemed to have more of an edge together.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 7:17:25 PM CDT

    Thank you Columbian........

    by manaqua

    ..I was all set to go into a rant when I noticed you had deftly handled my light work for me. Can you believe these people?! Cheers. M

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 7:26:56 PM CDT

    Similarities between "Amelie" and

    by shanghighnoon

    the Chinese movie "Youchai" (Postman)(1995). I see a lot of cross-reference material
    between the two: shy, meddling observers; manipulating family members (Amelie
    - father; Postman - sister); writing fake letters from dead soldiers (Amelie
    to her concierge; Postman to a family on his route). And other similarities.

    I read the above statement in a newsgroup.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 9:28:22 PM CDT

    Juenet

    by indiana clones

    He's a world-class DP masquerading as a movie director. Not as bad a director as Michael Bay, but not much better either.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 11:17:42 PM CDT

    I'll bet your lips move when you read them too...

    by docpazuzu

    Was I the only one who reacted to fettastic's comment about subtitles being annoying? What kind of fil geek finds subtitles more annoying than dubbing? Jeez...
    Doc out.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 10, 2002 11:18:44 PM CDT

    correction

    by docpazuzu

    that's "film geek" of course...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 12:02:04 AM CDT

    There is one copy of this book at my university library

    by touch of evil

    Unfortunately, it is in French. What would I give for a translation...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 12:02:19 AM CDT

    There is one copy of this book at my university library

    by touch of evil

    Unfortunately, it is in French. What would I give for a translation...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 12:49:37 AM CDT

    You Amelie haters are hilarious

    by smeg for brains

    But I guess that you didn't really intend for your writings to reveal to us all the miniscule size of your penises, and your blatant homosexuality, which is so repressed that it comes out as hatred for anything that deals with emotion, or other "chick flick" stuff, as showing interest in that would make you seem obviously "queer". Prison bitches, the lot of ya!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 2:27:11 AM CDT

    Count me in with the anti-Amelie camp

    by dan_average

    I liked Delicatessen and COLT but Amelie was too precocious for its own good. For a lot of people the endless tricks heightened the experience; for me it killed it. A lot of it was either redundant or intended to communicate things that should've been left up to the actors but that they were either unable or not allowed to bring across themselves. "Let's show an X-ray of Amelie's beating heart"........I mean, come ON, why not just hit us over the head with a sledgehammer.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Acid spitting Superman, I think I just hit paydirt!

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 5:25:30 AM CDT

    Amelie is a FANTASY movie, not real. Its that simple.

    by jimbobnz

    In the same way that Delicatessen, City of the Lost Chidren and Alien are not REAL either.

    Watch the film like you would watch a version of say Cinderella and maybe then you might be able appreciate the talents of one of the worlds finest directors...

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 8:48:12 AM CDT

    Sounds alittle too close to Amelie to me...

    by wungolioth

    Found the editorial review on Amazon.com: January 1917: five French soldiers are marched to their own front lines where they will be tossed out into no man's land with their hands tied behind their backs and left for the Germans to shoot. They were, in civilian life, variously a pimp, a mechanic, a farmer, a carpenter, and a fisherman; now they are condemned because each had sought to leave the war by shooting himself in the hand. Taken to a godforsaken trench nicknamed Bingo Cr

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 8:56:49 AM CDT

    More...

    by wungolioth

    One of the customer reviews goes on to state that he's sorry he'd seen Amelie before reading it, because he could only imagine Amelie as the main character of the book. I'm slightly disappointed that Jeunet seems to want to stick to the same sort of story, I loved Amelie, liked COLC, and Delicatessen is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I think the man should move on to a new subject matter, but it looks like he's going with what works, seeing as he got all this acclaim.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 10:33:32 AM CDT

    Jeff Fries, Shade...

    by orson w

    There are two reasons I detest 'Amelie'. #1: The smug, sadistic, self-congratulatory central character. #2: The inherent undercurrent of racism in the depiction of Paris. It is not the fact that Paris is made 'beautiful' that bothers me (many parts of Paris are beautiful and that's fine) - it's that in order to make Paris look beautiful, Jeunet feels it necessary to remove the ethnic minorities from the background. If you lived in France for any reasonable length of time, you would understand the significance of this. France is a virulently racist country and many French people look back to the 'golden age' of Paris - before the millions of blacks and arabs and asians arrived - the French have great nostalgia for this period and have made many films celebrating it - and Jeunet is deliberately referenceing those films in 'Amelie'. Believe me - if you knew France, this would be obvious to you. And I'm not saying anything new here - 'Amelie' has been strongly criticised in the French media precisely because it is perceived as racist.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 11:06:05 AM CDT

    Wungolioth

    by spinza

    I've read Sebastien Japrisots "A Very Long Engagement" and i don't think it's very similar to Amelie. It's really more of a detective story than anything else (though not a very conventional one to say the least), very tragic in parts and not at all as whimsical. It does have a female protagonist but Mathilde is very different from Amelie. She's much more pragmatic and completely lacking Amelies cuteness that irritated many of the other talkbackers. I do think it's story that could suit Jeunet perfectly, the same way it was cool to hear that....uh...Tim Burton was gonna direct that first Batman-movie (can't think of a better or more recent example). It's got a strange blend of quirkiness, harsh realism and romanticism that i feel would really suit his style.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 11:30:45 AM CDT

    FD Resurrected

    by destructo

    you accuse amelie of being racist then rant about "fucking french" people. what is that if not racist? and stupid. maybe amelie didnt have as many ethnic minorities as you would see in paris but if you think there was none then you are choosing to ignore them to make a point. besides, there was a dwarf.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 1:00:51 PM CDT

    to Gollumn....

    by fatal discharge

    ...personally I can't understand people's hatred of the newborn. Sure it looks weird but how do you think an alien-human hybrid would look? I guess the fact that it has human pinkish skin put off some people but if you look in certain shots it's face is similar to Ripley which is creepy. Probably you folks woulda been more satisfied with the Species alien - insect armor on a humanoid figure - but I take the newborn as being part of the comic tone of the film and having been a product of a mad-scientist's experiments.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 6:41:08 PM CDT

    Actually, what ruined Alien Ressurection was the idea that they

    by smeg for brains

    And a formulaic, amateurish script by Joss Whedon, though I think that has mostly to do with the studios insistence on having an unneccesary, and dead character return. How do you bring back a character who jumped into a pot of molten metal after her chest exploded?

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 6:59:07 PM CDT

    FD Resurrected replies to those who don't get my post

    by fd resurrected

    Nobody understand "sarcasm" these days. I pity your souls. My comment mocking French while decrying racism is meant to be...sarcastic. I guess y'all don't find that funny when your head is up the ass. As for orgasm reference, I was just referring to the sequence - so if you've seen the movie and remember that, then you know what I'm talking about. I do watch French movies and The Piano Teacher is one of the best movies this year (distributed in the North America at least). I own your soul -- FD Resurrected

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 11, 2002 9:41:48 PM CDT

    I enjoyed AMELIE, but the haters have a point

    by touch of evil

    If the only changes it were American and starred Sandra Bullock, it would be universally despised.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 12, 2002 2:34:56 AM CDT

    For the record: I always thought Alien Resurrection was a great

    by llghtst0rmer

    Honest to God. I thought Ridley Scott's original was spectacular, of course, and watching it was one of the most frightening experiences of my childhood. But when it's all said and done, the first film was a suspense film. Excellent suspense, I have to admit, but not always an edge-of-your-seat, balls-to-the-wall action film. Aliens was most certainly that. Fincher's Alien3 was far from being *either* of those, but it was likeable. But Resurrection brought the fun back in spades. I thought Whedon wrote a bright, thoroughly entertaining script (yes, including the "baby" alien,) Jeunet directed it expertly (with *beautiful* photography by Darius Khondji,) and the movie was all around strong action and great fun. I know 97% of the AICN crowd will say I'm dumb as a bag of hammers for keeping this opinion, but I guarantee you this: If Jeunet continues to make strong movies and get a good track record under his belt (especially if he makes more s/f / fantasy films and they find an audience,) then the vast majority of all the holier-than-thou "cineastes" in the Talkbacks will eventually be saying, "You know, I always liked Alien Resurrection. I just can't figure out what took everyone so long to realize what a genius Jean-Pierre really is!" If you don't believe me, take a look at any Alien-related talkback, and pay attention to how everyone kisses Fincher's ass and says how underappreciated A3 really was. "It was always a good film! People just never rewally paid attention to it!" Puh-lease.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Like his earlier films Amelie seems to be set in some stlylised fantasy post -war France.Most likely how things were when the director was a lad.It looks like a mix of the 1940's and just a few modern day things{camcorders , colour tv's , sex shops! etc}So the lack of ethnic types doesn't seem so odd.It wasn't meant to be a docu' on modern day Paris.And I seem to remember that there were a mix of races at the funfair Amelie goes to{or did i imagine that}As For Alien Res.I really like Juenet's French films {though I can see why some peaple don't }And part of their interest comes from the fact that they're very European. I posted on the day that Juenet was announced as director on AR , that it just wasn't going to work.The man is great at creating twee ,whimsical , comedy fantasies.But *twee* and comedy never had any place in the Alien series.Juenet has also never shown any flare for action scenes and that was obvious in the end result.The final nail in AR's coffin was Wheadon's simplistic comic strip of a script.Giving us unrealistic and totally unlikeable characters .His wise ass ,
    flippant dialogue and Juenet's prissy direction never seemed to go together.Left to his own perhaps Juenet could have made an interesting movie but I doubt it.This film was very much like Tim Burton's POTA remake .Someone who's best at making brittle , odd fantasy , trying to do a summer blockbuster.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Oct 12, 2002 10:13:56 PM CDT

    About racism...

    by dude fx

    Amelie has a magrebian actor in it...so the movie can't be racist. Have you seen Bruce Lee's Rturn Of The Dragon? A little Asian dude beating up White and Black dudes? Man, what a racist movie. Have you seen Terminator 2? A white chick trying to kill a black dude. Dude, what a racist movie. Have you seen The Lord Of the Rings? No black dudes no asian dudes. Can't stand this movie...too racist. Have you seen Minority Report? The only minorities is a black dude eating cakes. What a racist movie. Have you seen Toy Story? No black dudes, no asian dudes...Ok, that's it. I'm not gonna go see any movies anymore, too many racists out there.

    Reply to Talkback

  • Dude FX is totally correct with his sarcastic observations. I agree with him totally, no one seemed to mention the *ahem* 'Racism' (lol) in Lord of the Rings. 'Saruman the WHITE anyone?' Of course we cant accuse Attack of the clones of anything like this, look at all those Maori, hundreds of thousands of them there were. Can you name a black character in Star Wars: A new hope? No. You cant. All the above films are FANTASY, as is Amelie. Jeunet has an eye for the strange, maybe instead of thinking it would be more 'Beautiful' not to include minorities, he did it instead because he knew that the french would pick up on this instantly and see that it was indeed, strange. I personally didn't think twice about the races of the people in the movie because im not racist. I dont believe his motives were at all racist, and you people criticising him for it are far more racist. When thinking about this talkback I asked myself a simple question. How would the addition of other races, improve the the directors vision for the movie? I came up with the answer that IT WOULDN'T! I couldn't care less that there are little-to-no black people in the movie, and i couldn't have cared less if there were. It makes no difference, get over yourselves and get on with your lives. If your that fussed about racism in movies, go see that new Inuit movie "The Fast Runner" and bitch about the complete lack of Armenian's in it. Jesus, you people really do make me sick. Its not as if Jeunet slaughtered a few asians to get this movie made or anything. I could go on about the racism in braveheart, and how the english were all treated as being the evil upperclass invaders against the entirely goodhearted Scottish. I could go into this, but I wont simply because i couldn't give a shit. I encourage you to do the same, you'll be alot less stressed. Have a good one. Amelie is a great film.

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  • Oct 13, 2002 1:02:15 AM CDT

    Touch of Evil you are wrong

    by smeg for brains

    If the film Amelie was exactly the same, but was made in America, and starred Sandra Bullock it would still be an amazingly shot, beautifully written movie. On the other hand if it were made like most american movies are made it would be crap, but all that says is that America sucks at doing romantic comedies in any way that would make them enjoyable. Romantic comedies are not bad, just as action movies are not bad. It is all in the execution, which is where America usually fails. Just because the French can turn out something decent from a catagory that we normally suck at doesn't mean that the movie itself is inherently bad, and just dolled up with pretty visuals and foreign charm. I guess what I am saying is that it is easy to ruin a good movie with poor execution, but it is almost impossible to make a movie good through execution alone. It has to be a good story and script first to be a good movie.

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