What do you make of Brian De Palma? Brian who? He's one of those directors who's done more than you know. I knew he'd done a few, but looking him up on the IMDb there were a lot more than I'd realised. How many do you know? Carrie? The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, The Black Dahlia, Scarface, Carlito's Way and The Bonfire of the Vanities? I think I liked him a long time ago, but for a while now I've been dismissing him out of hand. His films seem too obvious and plastic, he generally takes other people's material rather than writing his own, and appears the lesser director in comparison to his friends Spielberg, Coppola etc. This is a harsh verdict, and almost certainly unfair. Mission: Impossible is brilliant, and apparently The Black Dahlia was very good. But I've never noticed anything particular about his work, no style or message. Maybe it's not there, or maybe I haven't been paying attention? What disturbed me recently was I heard someone say De Palma values style over substance: something I actually think is a good thing. Whatever the truth, the 'done more than you know' category that he's in seems to work against him, where it mostly favours others.
Incidentally, you may have noticed I don't know what to watch on Thursday. Leave your suggestions here for what you'd like me to see! Note it has to be showing in central London and preferably around the 6pm time slot.
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