Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Receiver recommendations

So even though I like the works of Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh I don’t like painting (as an art form) because I hate the works of Claude Monet and don’t care for those of Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo Buonarroti.

I took a university course called “Film as Art” not one Hitchcock film was reviewed. What constitutes art is far to subjective for me to draw such a stark distinction, but to each his own. No offense take BTW.

I love Hitchcock..... Many current movies don't know how to build psychological tension. They jus' blow stuff up real good!

(Which can be fun, too.....)

I've been finding that I enjoy TV dramas more than movies lately. I've not seen many movies that wind me up as much as any number of Battlestar Galactica episodes.

Totally agree. Which is why I’ve gotten hooked on some anime (DeathNote) and like Ken Battlestar Galactica. I also prefer the more in-depth storytelling available to a series vs a movie.

I like the Grandaddy of all courtroom dramas, Perry Mason. Always try to figure out whodunnit, nearly always wrong. Mark's assessment of Hitchcock is accurate imo, and we could use some shows that don't spell everything out for us.

I knew that would get a reaction. I may have worded it poorly too. I suppose what I meant by film as an art-form is film as what the French called "pure cimema", whereby the use of the technical aspects of film are used to convey the message. So delete script/story, acting etc, and just look at shot composition, editing, camera movement, etc. In that strict sense, Hitchcock may be peerless, so I would say that if one didn't appreciate his work from that point, one doesn't appreciate "pure cinema". There is of course other ways to look at film, I'm just speaking of one.

Psycho would be a great example of pure cinema. The story is rather mundane, the acting average, screenplay adequate, but the movie is considered one the greatest of all time, because the technical aspects are so brilliant. You could easily do an entire film course on that one movie.

This thread really got hi-jacked from it's original topic. oops.

Now, to allow people to throw stones at me, I say the following: I love music, can't stand The Beatles.

BUUUUUURN THE WITCH!

“Pure Cinema” is a part of what I was thinking about in terms of cinema as art and don’t disagree Hichcock does a lot however, I still don’t care for his work because his technique alone doesn’t engage me enough to make me like his works as a whole. Doesn’t mean it’s not art just a particular artist who’s work I don’t care for regardless of it’s technical merits.

FWIW I generally consider a thing art when it evokes something more than the superficiality of the media taken literally would dictate. For example someone posted a purely CGI video a while back that I considered very artistic and liked it. OTOH, I do view Hitchcock’s work as artistic I just don’t like it because to me his devices are too contrived and the other aspects of his “story-telling” (writing, acting . . .) are not strong enough to make up for that IMO.

I can see your POV I just disagree that one must appreciate a particular “artist” to appreciate their media as an art form.

Battlestar Galactica - addictive.

Caprica - peculiar. I record every episode.

Deadwood - the F Bomb met Shakespeare.

Burn Notice - I hate myself for watching it.

The Unit

Entourage.

Art? It's in the eye, like a sharp stick.

Since I speak Korean, I watch some Korean movies (not a lot though). Old Boy is not only disturbing, but the ending has a better twist than Sixth Sense, No Way Out and Dead Again. I could even throw Primal Fear in there I suppose.

My jaw literally dropped open at the end. What a crazy/disturbing ending. I heard that Quentin Tarantino was going to remake it in the States. We'll see.