Brian De Palma: Voyeur, Hard Science Fiction Enthusiast

RV!: The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: October 31, 1974 Date Seen: September 3, 2012 Rating: 4.5/5

RV!: Dressed to Kill (1980) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: July 25, 1980 Date Seen: September 4, 2012 Rating: 4.5/5

274) Hi, Mom (1970) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: April 27, 1970 Date Seen: September 4, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

287) Passion (2012) Dir: Brian De Palma Not Yet Released Date Seen: September 9, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5

Oh, boy. I got to talk to the cranky man in the safari jacket. Oh, boy. Interviewed him for Press Play and wrote a lil capsule on Phantom, my favorite of Mr. DP's movies, for the L Magazine. Enjoyee!

RV!: Femme Fatale (2002)

RV!: Femme Fatale (2002) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: November 6, 2002 Date Seen: December 24, 2011 Rating: 4.25/5

I used to hate this. Now, I know I was stupid for hating this. How could I ever hate this?! Keith Uhlich, if you're out there: you can have Step Up 3D. But this film? This film we will share.

RV!: The Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

RV!: The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: October 31, 1974 Date Seen: June 26, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5

Second go-around and I am very happy to say: no, sir or ma'am, as the case may be, I am not crazy for thinking this movie is a fucking gem. Paul Williams's score is fantastic, De Palma's cynically ironic sense of humor is at its peak and the film's cast members are all terrific. If loving this film is wrong, I will never ever ever be right. And what a wonderful Halloween eve gift (note the original release date)!

254) Raising Cain (1992)

254) Raising Cain (1992) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: August 7, 1992 Date Seen: June 17, 2011 Rating: 3.75/5

I think my ardour for this mellowed some by the end, when it REALLY went off the deep end. But for the most part, De Palma holds it together enough so that the film's sardonic sense of humor and visually playful twists pay off. In some ways, a silly remake of Sisters. Plus: John Lithgow! John Lithgow? John Lithgow. John Lithgow?!

RV!: Snake Eyes (1998)

RV!: Snake Eyes (1998) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: August 7, 1998 Date Seen: April 10, 2011 Rating: 3.75/5

Not sure what everyone doesn't like about the ending, which I thought was just bland, but everything leading up to that was pretty bang-on. People can complain about David Koepp's screenplay while lauding De Palma's direction but you can't have one without the other, obviously. A very compelling mystery yarn well-paced, well-acted (one of my favorite Cage performances), featuring some teasing De Palma flourishes about the corrupting influence of scopophilia and oh yeah, some snappy dialogue, too. What do you people WANT exactly?

124) Sisters (1973), 126) Blow Out (1981), 128) Dressed to Kill (1980) and 129) Body Double (1984)

124) Sisters (1973) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: March 27, 1973 Date Seen: April 4, 2011 Rating: 4.25/5

126) Blow Out (1981) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: July 24, 1981 Date Seen: April 5, 2011 Rating: 4.25/5

128) Dressed to Kill (1980) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: July 25, 1980 Date Seen: April 6, 2011 Rating: 4/5

129) Body Double (1984) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: October 26, 1984 Date Seen: April 6, 2011 Rating: 4.5/5

Yeah, I guess Body Double and Phantom of the Paradise are my two favorite De Palmas. For the moment. See my piece for Capital New York.

70) Obsession (1976)

70) Obsession (1976) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: August 1, 1976 Date Seen: March 5, 2011 Rating: 4.25/5

After Phantom of the Paradise, this is the first of De Palma's films to really convince me of his status as a cinematic genius. Mesmerizing, really. And John Lithgow, holy shit.

28) Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and 30) The Vanishing (1988)

28) The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: October 1974 Date Seen: January 28, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

30) The Vanishing (1988) Dir: George Sluizer Date Released: October 1990 Date Seen: January 30, 2010 Rating: 4.5/5

Saw both and enjoyed both immensely for an impending list of films where the protagonists get "buried alive." Check it out at Ugo.

326) The Fury (1978)

326) The Fury (1978) Dir: Brian De Palma Date Released: March 1978 Date Seen: October 5, 2009 Rating: 3.75/5

Perhaps there's no point in calling out Brian De Palma's The Fury (1978) for not making sense but I like to think there is. The film purposely inserts several gaps in its narrative but it does so for the sake of an abstract, insensible statement about how the children of the late '70s are being denied "the truth" and of robbed of their heritage but, thanks to some psychic powers, are taking their identities back. Right. You can see the righteous indignation that would lead De Palma to make a film as naked in its ire as Redacted (2007) in The Fury but its embedded so zealously in generic terms hand-picked from Carrie (1976) and Hitchockian road films like North by Northwest (1959) that it easily getslost in the shuffle. Much like the bulk of the film's fuzzier plot points.

I didn't even realize just how lost I was by The Fury until I skipped around in my DVD's scene selections in a vain search for some semblance of clarification. No such luck. I enjoy being led around by the nose by a talented filmmaker with a sense of humor as much as the next guy, maybe more so, but what's maddening here is that that level of mystery is in service to such a shallow and vague as hell, quasi-Zionist statement about the need for peace talks in the Middle East which Carter was spearheading. I don't get it but I did enjoy getting taken for a ride.

Note: One of the nagging, plot-based questions I had revolves around what I'm sure is only a gaffe--at one point, Gillian is called Ellen, a fact that even the DVD's subtitles will back me up on, je le jure. And yet, the fact that it was nevertheless kept in the film undermines the suggestion that any other scene in the film is intentionally left open-ended--just what the fuck does "I shot his arm. I killed it" mean? Well, it's not supposed to not make sense. It's Lynchian. Get with it, lame-o.