XaiJu
jamesvscinema
jamesvscinema

patreon


Jackie Brown (1997) Uncut Reaction!

Hello Patreon supporters! Happy to have you along for the ride. Here you'll have special access to content that's created as a special thank you for your support! Let's keep building this awesome community. :D (Amazon Prime for best sync)

Jackie Brown (1997) Uncut Reaction!

Comments

Just FYI, this is technically Tarantino's 3rd film. His first film ever was Reservoir Dogs.

Jason Metcalf

Also, nice shutout to the writer’s strike. Hopefully they can get this issue straightened up soon. Like you said just pay them what they should be paid for streaming. :)

Cody Price

Also, if you check one of the scenes in Jackie Brown, when Max walks out of the theater, one of the our movie poll films from this week’s movie poster was behind him. It was showing The American President movie poster in the background.

Cody Price

By the way, this was Robert Forster’s Academy Award nominated performance for Best Supporting Actor.

Cody Price

Understand, but at least you know there is a workaround to get around it until it’s fixed. Steps for the workaround: go to email associated with Patreon account; go to email that has the e-mail notification for that specific post/video;click on the link in the email Just in case need to pass the workaround along it works. :)

Cody Price

It’s weird how it’s working fine on some others (mine included) and not on others? That’s frustrating. I’ll see about changing the link so check back on here in the next few hours and hopefully it’ll just refresh and work properly. Wish I knew exactly what was happening since it never had done that before.

James Adams

Hi James. I am not able to watch your video right now. It gives an error message saying “Sorry Your video does not exist.” It is doing that on every film reaction but the television reactions are fine. I did find a back way into it by clicking on the link that comes in the email notification that you posted the video on Patreon, but doesn’t work other wise on the film reactions.

Cody Price

I want to watch the uncut version of this but I won't have time until this weekend when I'll check it out. So I'm writing this without having seen James' commentary. But for those interested, there is a psychology to good writing that is really well demonstrated in this movie. Tarantino is sometimes criticized as being self-indulgent. While I don't agree with that, I do agree that at times his writing does walk the line on that. I think Jackie Brown, as a writer, is his most disciplined film. This is because of the influence of Elmore Leonard, the man who wrote the book the movie is based on Rum Punch, and is considered to be the greatest American crime novelist that ever lived by many. Elmore Leonard had a rule for himself, whenever he edited his work if something sounded to him like writing, he'd get rid of it. This may sound odd to some but there is sound writing theory behind it and it relates to Tarantino and Jackie Brown. Whenever I write myself, before I start I ask myself a question. What am I trying to accomplish? I learned this from Leonard. If it sounds like writing, that means it is writing for writing's sake and therefore, not accomplishing anything. If the answer to the above question is: to write a great paragraph. That is not good enough. The reader doesn't care about that. They care about the characters and the story. So Leonard used a simple, straightforward style that put the focus on character and story., not the prose. Tarantino likes his florid dialogue and his intricate plotting and structure. We see this in Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Inglorious Basterds. I haven't read Rum Punch so I can't speak on the direct adaptation but I have read a ton of Elmore Leonard's other novels. Tarantino really lets Elmore Leonard come through in this movie. You can feel his love for Leonard's work even if he makes it his own a little bit. His love for Leonard's dialogue and how specific Leonard is with detail. One of the best written scenes in the movie is the introduction of the character of Louis, when he and Odell are sitting on the couch and Odell is showing him a video of women shooting guns. Now this may not seem like the best written scene but consider what it accomplishes. The one thing that separates good writing from bad writing is what the audience/reader learns during a scene or chapter. In the dialogue, here is what we learn about Odell in this scene. He is a criminal. He is involved in gun smuggling. He learn about his relationship to Louis but we don't learn why Louis is important to him yet. We learn about his relationship with Melanie. We learn how that relationship functions and how toxic it is. We learn about Melanie's need to constantly needle and push through the phone. We learn about how Odell needs to control people through him telling Melanie to answer the phone and get more ice for his drink. We learn Louis was in prison for bank robbery and is also a criminal. We learn that Louis is subservient to Odell for the most part. He is a guy who goes along. Now this next part is important. All of this is invisible to the viewer. That is the difference between a great scene and a boring exposition dump. It doesn't sound like writing. It is all hidden behind good character work. The one thing I remembered from Leonard's Ten Rules for Writing that I read when I was 19, is to always use 'said' with dialogue because it is invisible to the reader. Now, I personally do not follow that but to this day, I make sure if I use 'replied' or something else, that I am doing it with reason. When seeing the scene with Odell and Louis, the audience should be thinking about the characters, the story, wondering who this Louis guy is and what he is about. They should be thinking about Odell and making judgments on how based on how speaks and acts. Since he is the villain, his actions should be unfavorably viewed. But this has to come naturally. So, every scene the audience should be learning something. Not just one thing, but many things stacked on top of each other so they are mentally engaged with the story and it should be invisible. So, I wrote this long, ridiculous post to just offer some things to consider from the point of view of someone who has written a handful of novels. What is being accomplished? What is being learned? Is it natural and is it invisible to the average viewer? The reason that Elmore Leonard is one of the greatest American writers ever, is because the answers to those questions are always satisfactory. It's why he is one of the most adapted writers when it comes to film and why, though he was primarily a novelist, he was so influential on screen writing. Because as important as those things are in a novel, they are even more vital in a screenplay. Sorry for the giant post, but I thought it might be interesting to some.

J. Arlo Mullinix

You also read the essence of Jackie Brown, too. She sets herself up to have more than one exit. At any point she could choose her plan, Ordell's plan, or the ATF's plan to best benefit her outcome.

Melinda Barr

Just get those VIBES from characters like that haha. Must’ve been fun creating his character haha

James Adams

100% appreciate you homie! Gotta support the hard workers that do it for us.

James Adams

Nice shout out to the writers! Firing this one up right now.

Jim Frykman

In my Tarantino top three, too. I love the fact that you peeped how dangerous Ordell was in the first ten minutes of the movie, before he did anything nefarious. I think this is Samuel L. Jackson's most menacing character. His smile is like the Joker's smile: nothing nice.

Melinda Barr

Anytime! Thanks for tagging along and I hope you enjoy the uncut! See ya around friend! :)

James Adams

Hey James, so glad youre reacting to this movie. Top 3 Tarantino movie for me. Also ran into some finiancal problems so this is the last thing I can watch before my patreon runs out. So again, thank you, and excited to watch along with you!

Malik


More Creators