#58

Die Hard

1 Like
#59

No, @kiyonemakibi is right. The book works excellently within the quartet and it is very good, but the Film takes the essence of the book and turns it into a single story that fits perfectly into its runtime, and includes one of the great little things of cinema.

And you should watch LA Confidential for sure FOR SURE!

1 Like
#60

I think the 20 minute acid trip sort of conveys that?

#61

Danny DeVito?

2 Likes
#62

That’s my point. It sort of conveys it - it doesn’t capture the wonder of it.

#63

Even to allude to it is a sort of spoiler for LA Confidential:

The whole Rolo Tomasi thing. It’s such a well written setup. I don’t think it was original (I recall thinking oh yeah, that old thing) but regardless, that thread fucking kills it every rewatch.

#64

Been a very long time since I’ve seen the film tbh, but I remember thinking it was good.

1 Like
#65

That’s the one thing that didn’t ring true and felt a little too convenient to me, personally.

1 Like
#66

figured i’d try ellroy coz he seemed to come up a lot when i was reading true crime, black dahlia murder stuff. my word, his writing is actually embrarrasingly bad. no clue how anyone takes that guy seriously.

#67

What ones of his have you read?

American Tabloid, in particular, is one of my favourite books, and the rhythm is hypnotic.

#68

I’d say the writing there matches his other stuff. Probably just not for @ericthefourth

#69

It’s a standard Chekhov’s Gun thingie, sure, but I think it’s a really great thread on which to build the way the plot runs. Convenience and coincidence are the soul of storytelling and I think that one is well done, in that it doesn’t stick out wildly.

#70

Eric reads Ellroy. Eric hates Ellroy. Bin bin bin.

#71

i only tried his black dahlia thing, read about 50 pages and nearly cringed myself off the planet

#72

It’s not like you to dislike something.

#73

All of them

#74

It’s not like you to comment on me not liking something

1 Like
#75

It was the way that

Smith repeats the name to Exley. It’s just totally unbelievable and way too tidy

I appreciate why they had to tie it up in a less sprawling way than the book, but it was the one thing that broke the spell for me.

#76

Big Trouble in Little China

#77

I thought it was alright, didn’t seem that cringe, although i’d never read anything like that before. Plot lost its way in the middle a bit, but I think the style just about carried it to the end. A big fan of all the slang in it.