So I'd like to make some statements and see your guys' thoughts on 'Phantom of the Paradise".
I think it's a 10/10 movie, that's just me personally. It's so many amazing things, a Mashup between FOTO and Faust, a rock opera, and in a way, a superhero movie. Plus I've always loved tragedies.
I love the fact that there's no REAL goodguy. you could say Winslow Leach is the good guy, but he does alot of bad things himself, defacing signs, killing innocent preformers.
I'd also like to see what you guys think about the idea of it being a superhero movie. It makes sense to me; a tragic backstory, an odd costume, and a skewed moral perspective.
This is personally my new favorite film, but I'd like to hear what you guys think about it?
Everyone who has seen Phantom of the Paradise loves it, the only trouble is it hasn't quite managed to break through the meme-barrier and has been relegated to cult-status since its release. Brian De Palma is a big name but they probably needed a star to really catch peoples' attention. The cast is fantastic but too many literally who's? Paul Williams (Swan) had a cameo in Baby Driver, so Edgar Wright is probably a fan. It can still make it and take its rightful place as GOAT weird-musical from the usurper Rocky Horror.
Don't know about Superhero, I'd say it's more that superheroes are built from the same archetypes that Phantom of the Paradise draws from (Faust, Dorian Gray, etc). Leach is a cool character and I like that De Palma didn't give a fuck and really let him go nuts and get genuinely threatening and dangerous. I'd still say Swan is blatantly more evil than anybody else though. (fun fact, Swan was based on legendary music producer Phil Spectre, who is currently in prison for murdering his wife).
John Turner
Griffiiiiit
Julian White
Wowowowo live action Femto, when did this come out?
Cooper Fisher
Yeah man, I dig it. Love the soundtrack too.
def a hidden gem that I really hope doesn't get popular.
Jacob Rogers
It's great, I'd probably rate it 8 or 9 though for a couple of flaws. Basically the pacing is a little odd once Leach becomes the phantom, he gets like 5 minutes to play the "monster" before he enters the Faustian deal with Swan and it sort of undermines the weight of the Phantom as the character when after all that buildup he's suddenly forced into a different scenario entirely. Also, the way they handled Beef was kind of strange. You can sort of tell he's this sympathetic figure by the way the management forces him to play this whole muscley cock-rock performance even though he's a fag, but everything from his introduction to death is played for laughs. It seemed like PotP wanted to depict how Leach became increasingly unhinged and consumed by revenge, but Beef was the only victim of any consequence and his death scene was comical. Ultimately I was still completely in Leach's corner and while I know you're not supposed to view his death scene as a positive moment, it just felt like a pitiful ending to a pitiful story rather than the downfall of a tragic anti-hero.
Oliver Jones
huh, never knew griffith was ripping this off
Aiden Clark
It's never been exactly confirmed whether Griffith was a Phantom of the Paradise homage or not. Like supposedly the Phantom mask had some kind of medieval origin or something so maybe Griffith and Leach were designs that the creators arrived on independently.
Henry Myers
Tommy was a better rock opera.
Kayden Clark
I caught a bit of the ending when I was like 6 and it was really weird and freaky. It took like 15 yrs to fins out what that was. Still havent seen it but sounds like a nice weird romp.
Any music people can just appreciate it for that Synth studio the phantom was in... I just want that soo baad
Lincoln Perry
Griffith literally did nothing wrong.
Anthony Brooks
ROLL ON THUNDER SHINE ON LIGHTNING THE DAYS ARE LONG AND THE NIGHTS ARE FRIGHTENING NOTHIN MATTERS ANYWAY AND THAT'S THE HELL OF IT
Connor Russell
I went to a screening hosted by Edgar Wright in London a couple of months ago. He is a huge fan of the movie and got Paul to send in a video message to play before the movie, so they seem to be friends.
Grayson Allen
>so Edgar Wright is probably a fan
On Blow Out >I have heard people call themselves Brian De Palma apologists. I am proud to say that I am a huge fan without any caveats. There’s a reason that, back in the seventies, fellow movie brats Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese would defer to De Palma as “the filmmaker.” When on form, his work is something to behold. Even the lesser works of De Palma contain flashes of genius, while the best of his movies rank as pure cinema. Blow Out is certainly one of De Palma’s finest. There’s not a wasted shot, not even a wasted corner of frame. In the telling of this audiovisual thriller, De Palma uses Steadicam work, split screens, split diopter shots, and complex optical effects to utterly exciting but never overly flashy effect. Some directors are great storytellers without their presence being felt, but De Palma, much like his cinematic hero Alfred Hitchcock, is a master manipulator of both his medium and his audience. He plays us like an instrument, maneuvers us like puppets, and frequently makes us look where we’d rather not. Blow Out begins with De Palma turning the camera on himself and criticisms against him, then ends with one of the crueller, blacker chapters in cinema.
Henry Jones
DREAM A BIT OF STYLE WE'D DREAM A BUNCH OF FRIENDS DREAM EACH OTHERS SMILE AND DREAM IT NEVER ENDS
Leo Wood
This is the worst De Palma article I have ever read
