Top ten list of 2005

[Damien]

Back on topic: Am I the only one who has no desire to see anything playing in theaters right now? Unless there's something I've overlooked I can't think of a single film in my town that I feel like making the drive to go see.


As for Hollywood films, the only 2005 release I've seen is the estimable Assault On recinct 13 -- nothing else (The Pacifier?) has had appeal.

There have been any number of interesting-sounding international films that have played New York in the last couple of months (eg John Boorman's In My Country, Bahman Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly, Marco Bellocchio's My Mother's Smile), but as always this time of year I feel exhausted and over-extended from catching up with the previous year's releases. So going to the movies -- and sitting through the commercials and trailers -- is not highly appealing to me right now, especially since even fairly obscure foreign films will be out on DVD before the year is up,

[dws1982]

Nope. It's one film that I would like to see, but I doubt it'll come to my town. One theater is pretty good about getting a lot of the smaller films (although sometimes months after their release), but I doubt they'd get a six-hour Italian film.

[Mann]

Best of Youth is amazing dws, have you seen it?

[dws1982]

I'd take that Cynthia Nixon thing with a grain of salt, anonymous--Edie Falco said that HBO submits episodes for its actors. Maybe someone at HBO read the site though. One thing that really inflated his ego is Keisha Castle-Hughes. Lots of members of the forums were really pushing for her, and when she got the nomination, everyone on Goldderby assumed it was because of their campaign. Nevermind that she played a very, very, sympathetic character in a film that wasn't hurt by the screener ban.

And Damien, maybe Tom reads this site too, or has a spy here: He changed the title of that thread from "Tsunami" to "Massacre".

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Back on topic: Am I the only one who has no desire to see anything playing in theaters right now? Unless there's something I've overlooked I can't think of a single film in my town that I feel like making the drive to go see.

[Mann]

anonymous , I heard that all the people from the site are moving to another site, what is it's address?

[anonymous1980]

Tom takes himself and his website way too seriously and misguidedly thinks it is much more important than it is. And it's kind of sad that he so desperately wants to be taken seriously by Hollywood -- and even sadder that he thinks the way to do so is to have naughty pictures on his site.

Actually, Damien, several celebrities have admitted to surfing the site. Particularly, TV actors like the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond and Sex and the City. Cynthia Nixon gives credit to her Emmy win to the advice given by the posters in the boards on which episodes to submit. Those kinds of things are what inflated Tom's ego.

Oddly enough, the very people whom Tom banned are the very people who gave her the suggestions on which episodes to submit since a lot of them are huge Sex and the City fans.

As for me, I've yet to be banned. The few credible people whom I like over there are all banned and I don't know if I'll follow suit.

[Damien]

It's also worth pointing out that Mr. O'Neill compared people who disagreed with him to Nazis (you think I'm kidding. I'm not.). Damien, remember the Walter Brennan arguement he had with Hedgy. That the height of rationalism compared to the incident of the past few days.

I see he has also compared the teacup tempest over there to the Tsunami.

[Damien]

Tom somehow took that as a call for censorship, and since some of these people who felt that way were friends, he took this as a "gang" bullying him around. Then they decided to fight fire with fire and put up some trashy signatures, and Tom just flipped and banned them. Then over the next two days, he started a war against the Goldderby "clique" (people who frequented off-topic threads) going on and on about how many people e-mailed and told him they were happy that these people had been banned, even though only one person ever admitted to telling him that. Then anyone who protested what he had done or questioned it was banned. He found out about another message board the refugees had started, and then started banning people who posted there. I

I just took a quick look at Gold Derby, but soon stopped because the back-and-forth hysteria was giving me a headache. But one thing is clear -- Tom takes himself and his website way too seriously and misguidedly thinks it is much more important than it is. And it's kind of sad that he so desperately wants to be taken seriously by Hollywood -- and even sadder that he thinks the way to do so is to have naughty pictures on his site.

[Damien]

And, yes, O'Neill has flipped. His bizarre posts are matched, if not topped, by the the junk mail he lends his name to. Anybody else get an add for penis enlargement pills endoresed by Tom? Maybe that's his problem, they're expanding his ego instead of what they were intended to.

LOL, Magilla. Gee there are just some images you don't want to think of, and the Gold Derby host expanding the size of his manhood is among them -- this seems as miscalculated an ad campaign as the one showing Mickey Rooney's bare ass.

[Okri]

I can't imagine you being banned from any site, As evidenced from your posts here, you're always thoughtful, gracious and intelligent. What was the cause of this Gold Derby purge?

It's also worth pointing out that Mr. O'Neill compared people who disagreed with him to Nazis (you think I'm kidding. I'm not.). Damien, remember the Walter Brennan arguement he had with Hedgy. That the height of rationalism compared to the incident of the past few days.

[dws1982]

Basically what happened was this: Last Saturday, Tom started a thread about having more racy images in signatures and avatars on his board, because he wanted the site to be more "cool" and "hip" and "like HBO" he said. One of the other posters, not unreasonably, said that several posters who view from work wouldn't be able to do that anymore if that kid of imagery were allowed, and others mentioned that they wouldn't be able to look at home very often either because they didn't want to risk their children seeing those images and thinking their parent was a creep. Tom somehow took that as a call for censorship, and since some of these people who felt that way were friends, he took this as a "gang" bullying him around. Then they decided to fight fire with fire and put up some trashy signatures, and Tom just flipped and banned them. Then over the next two days, he started a war against the Goldderby "clique" (people who frequented off-topic threads) going on and on about how many people e-mailed and told him they were happy that these people had been banned, even though only one person ever admitted to telling him that. Then anyone who protested what he had done or questioned it was banned. He found out about another message board the refugees had started, and then started banning people who posted there. I was one of the heads sent to the chopping block during that reign of terror; I had not-so-quietly questioned his "execute first, ask questions later" routine.

[Big Magilla]

I'm not familiar with Raoul Peck, but I am looking forward to seeing Sometimes in April. Hotel Rwanda was a fiilm I liked when I saw it, even making it my no. 5 film of the year, but it quickly faded and now doesn;t even make my top 10.

I haven't been able to get past one or two threads on Godl Derby for some time now. Between the overblown "art", the silly names people give themselves over there and the inane posts, it's basically a waste of time. And, yes, O'Neill has flipped. His bizarre posts are matched, if not topped, by the the junk mail he lends his name to. Anybody else get an add for penis enlargement pills endoresed by Tom? Maybe that's his problem, they're expanding his ego instead of what they were intended to.

[Damien]

And yes, Tom O'Neil has definitely flipped out, having now probably banned half of the active posters (myself included), including three moderators. Funny that what started out as his ploy to make the site become more "hip" and "popular" is what will end up running it into the ground.

I can't imagine you being banned from any site, As evidenced from your posts here, you're always thoughtful, gracious and intelligent. What was the cause of this Gold Derby purge?

[dws1982]

Johnny -- I haven't seen those earlier Peck films, but I did see his Lumumba which was fantastic. Sometimes In April will be on HBO a lot during the next month, and it's out on DVD in early May.

Okri -- I liked it a lot better than Hotel Rwanda, because it really seemed to deal the issues around the Rwandan genocide whereas Rwanda (to me) mostly stayed on the surface and relied too much on the viewer's emotional response.

And yes, Tom O'Neil has definitely flipped out, having now probably banned half of the active posters (myself included), including three moderators. Funny that what started out as his ploy to make the site become more "hip" and "popular" is what will end up running it into the ground.

[Johnny Guitar]

2. Sometimes in April (Raoul Peck)

I didn't know he had a new film! His 1993 Man by the Shore is an extraordinary work, and his 1988 Haitian Corner is good too. They're both officially unavailable on video I think, but if one looks hard enough dubs can probably be found from online sources.

I have yet to catch up with Lumumba but it's good to know I've got yet another Peck film to look out for.