Sex, lies and videotape (FF Classics Book 33)

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Then again I read a lot of classic literature which other people find boring. Maybe I like boring?? I read "War and Peace" at least once a year in Russian, get all excited when the new Jane's Defense updates come, and until I got tired of having to move them every time I moved had a killer collection of Napoleonic era lead soldiers I painted by hand.

So I have a pretty high threshold for boring things. Or at least things that most sane people would say was pretty boring. But there was something about that movie that just bored me to tears, and I have no idea why. It wasn't the actors either because I actually really like Spader, unlike a lot of people. So I have no clue what it was. While the movie isn't packed with action, I personally don't find it boring.

The plot moves smoothly and the characters develop constantly. There are no scenes that feel like filler, and I don't lose interest in any part of the story line. I may have to give it a try again, it's been almost 20 years since I last attempted to watch it so maybe that was it too.

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Just didn't hook me though. Then again I'm one of those strange people well at least according to every woman I know that is going to hell for not liking St. So I'll just chalk it up as to having weird taste in movies. I watched this movie when it first came out and thought it was interesting but not enough to ever re-watch it. I think my husband tried but couldn't get through it-- and he's a fan of James Spader I just find him creepy. It's interesting how this movie throws women into two categories and makes caricatures of both of them.

I haven't watched the movie in a loong time. But does it ever address the fact that Ann might be sexually repressed because her husband is a creep? Or do they lay it all on her? And what do they give as the motivations for Cynthia's hyper-sexuality? Choosing sex as a topic for the sake of titillation serves no purpose. If a movie were to look at the whys and hows of female sexuality, I'd be way more interested. Sqt, It is possible to see John as causing Ann's problems because he is clearly a bad guy.

Thus, we literally have no basis to judge what caused either Ann or Cynthia to become the way they are. Essentially, we are told, accept these people as is or reject the movie. Moreover, I think blaming John would be inconsistent with Sonderbergh setting Ann and Cynthia up as archetypes because to be an archetype, they need to be as generic as possible. That Sonderbergh is creating generic archetypes, I think is clear from the fact that we know nothing about either Ann or Cynthia other than the fact that one is repressed and the other is the polar opposite.

I take all of this as a signal that we aren't supposed to be interested in these people per se, so much as we are interested in them as generic models representing larger groups of women, i. Don't get me wrong, John is a jerk and no doubt anyone married to him would struggle, but I think his role in this film is not to accept blame but merely to go through a series of manipulative behaviors so that both Ann and Cynthia can show how they respond to such behaviors, and how their responses change as they "wake up.

Andrew I think you actually reinforced my point. Because we don't know what causes these women to be sexually disfunctional, they become stereotypes. That may not be the intention, but that's the outcome from my perspective.

Like I said before, it would be far more interesting to me to see the path they followed that allowed them to end up in the situation rather than just sit and observe the train-wreck in progress. As it is, the movie seems more interested in looking at these women as they function sexually-- and little else. That's not interesting to me. Sqt, I see your point, but detailing how the two women got to this point would be a different movie, and I don't think Sonderbergh was interested in that issue. I think he was trying to say that so long as women let this issue define them, they will be unhappy and they will be susceptible to the manipulations of the men in their lives and they will continue to fight with each other.

And to make that point, he had to cut out all of the other motivations and side-issues that could be used to shift blame or excuse the behavior. Because if you are telling people "this is how to behave", then it really doesn't serve your purpose to start offering people escape clauses.

No, I don't think it's that simple for the vast majority of people. But I have met some people who really should take Sonderbergh's advice. Andrew Yeah, it would be a different movie. One that would interest me more. I just remember seeing this when it first came out and it was kind of considered racy at the time.

I never saw it as anything that was making any great statement. I just thought it was trading on the sexual content to gain an audience. I could be wrong-- I haven't seen it since then, and it's what? I'm totally dating myself since I saw it in the movie theater Is anyone else having their comments not post?

Do you guys decide which comments go up and which don't? Skinners2Cents, nope don't do anything like that. I had a problem a couple days ago where a comment just wouldn't go through so I copied it, restarted Firefox and then it pasted in fine. I think it's a Blogger. Thanks Captain, I didn't think you guys would do something like that with out at least notifying people of doing so. I'll have to start copying all my comments. Thanks again and keep up the great work. It's tough to find a place that preaches a little sanity in our current hurricane of confusion.

Sqt, You could be absolutely correct. As the Captain says, it wasn't us. We don't have a policy on moderation because we pretty much trust our readers -- you folks have been great. But if we got some trollish stuff or personal attacks on people, we would probably deleted that. We want everyone to participate and we're all in favor of disagreement and even dissenting views in fact, the six of us disagree on many things , but we do ask that everyone stay civil. It has made me wanna see the movie again, since your review is more interesting than I remember the movie being, lol.

They do show some good movies sometimes. They are sub-titled but well worth watching Other than that and the occasional good movie such as: I Am David , most of it is crap, though. By all means, copy your comments before posting comments on blogger. I do the same thing before blogging as well. Blogger is prone to hiccups and whooping cough. I think Mifune is one of the best actors of the past 50 years, what a presence! I have a ton of Kurosawa films that I hope to review eventually my favorite is actually Ikuru. I also have several other foreign pictures that I will eventually get to.

Hopefully by the end of the year, we'll have touched upon all kinds of movies. Oh I love me some foreign movies. I'll admit I haven't seen many Japanese ones since my misspent youth when they made the regular rounds of the one local TV station's Saturday Movie Matinee but there are definitely some foreign films that I like a lot. Just this past month I've seen: I like watching foreign films where I don't have to concentrate on the subtitles all the time so that tends to influence which ones I watch.

Don't even get me started on the evil wrongness of dubbing a foreign movie either I don't have much to add here, but I thought I'd comment anyway because I was afraid that someone reading the comments might get the impression that Andrew was the only person who liked the movie! I saw it about ten years ago when I was on a jag where I was checking out movies considered classic or important a jag I probably ought to get back on.

It isn't the sort of film I would ordinarily watch, but I thought it was terrific. I don't remember it all that well not a slight on the movie, just my memory but I loved it. I would very much like to watch it again in light of Andrew's comments. Captain, Stalingrad is an excellent war film until the ending, when it suddenly gets very surreal. The two most effective scenes to me, were the truce between the two buildings and when the unit got called together in Russia for the decoration awards -- and you got to see how many had been killed.

I recall it being described in Germany as a German "Platoon". It also broke a social barrier in that it portrayed German soldiers in a sympathetic light -- which was just not done since WWII. If you want to see an interesting foreign war movie, check out Talvisota The Winter War. Return to Book Page. Sex, Lies, and Videotape by Steven Soderbergh. Hardcover , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Sex, Lies, and Videotape , please sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. It's hard to find many debut films better than sex, lies and videotape. It's probably just as hard to find many books that chronicle the filmmaking process better than this. Read this script along with watching the movie. I was surprised that a lot of parts were changed.

I'm not a movie expert but thought that it's a taboo to change the script. But then again since Steven also directed the movie, I guess it's alright. The script is brilliant. But the impression I've got of the movie and the script is different. I guess when you read a story you always have a clearer idea in your head. I actually thought that James Spader for the role Graham was not strong enough.

He Read this script along with watching the movie. He should be more of a weird bad boy kind of feel with a tormented past and basically just doesn't want to get close to people. James left kind of a more goofy and timid kind of feel.

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Ann is alright for me, but I can't help myself picturing Nicole Kidman acting in it. I guess it's because Ann is supposed to be this super beautiful woman that people just stare if she passes by. The prim and proper Ann that lacks confidence. Cynthia in the movie and the script just matched perfectly. And well John is a jerk in the movie and the script so I guess they matched too.

So as I said the script is brilliant. It has some very deep emotion in it and sentences that really makes you think about it. I noticed that in the movie they cut a lot of the long talking sentences that would help describe the character more.

The Exorcist

Is it because for a movie less is better? Direct to the point? Well no matter what, the script is great. Can't say that enough.

Bestselling Series

Jan 14, Tim rated it it was ok Shelves: Steven Soderbergh is a big-time movie director. He has made a number of very successful and respected films, and yet this, his first, was probably his best. I remember that it made a big splash when it was first released - it even won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, an event he discusses here. But this book was nothing great, and it seems to have been made in response to public demand for some written material by this blossoming young genius.

It consists of the screenplay, coupled with an inoffensive Steven Soderbergh is a big-time movie director. It consists of the screenplay, coupled with an inoffensive version of the filmmaker's diary from around the time he was beginning work on this film to the time it established him as a star. For the most part he comes across as a regular, hard-working guy who loves what he does.

I would say see the movie instead. I bet that it still packs a punch, and is still a fresh, sexy, unique look at obessions and relationship troubles, with a dash of technology thrown in. Somebody should write another book and explain why Soderbergh never made another film as vital and affecting as this one.

Oct 20, lisa g. Sep 26, Ryan rated it it was amazing. I put off seeing this film for the longest time--I can't explain why--but when I finally committed to it because it's Soderbergh I immediately recognized it as his best work in my humble opinion and the writing is exceptional on every level: Elements so sparsely exacting and tactfully implemented--I'm sure Allan Ball had more than one go on this script before he penned American Bea I put off seeing this film for the longest time--I can't explain why--but when I finally committed to it because it's Soderbergh I immediately recognized it as his best work in my humble opinion and the writing is exceptional on every level:

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