New John Water's movie...

[Anonymous User]

Have you guys heard anything about 'A Dirty Shame'? I've never been disappointed by John Waters in the past, and I doubt this movie will be any different.
Anyways, heres a trailer...think it will become a cult classic?

http://progressive.stream.aol.com/newline/gl/newline/trailers/aDirtyShame/A_DirtyShame_knee-deep_700_dl.mov

http://progressive.stream.aol.com/newline/gl/newline/trailers/aDirtyShame/A_DirtyShame_knee-deep_300_dl.wmv

[Vermin Boy]

I can't wait for this movie to come out. I'm glad Waters had the guts to leave it as an NC-17; I heard a story that he asked the MPAA what he'd have to cut to get it down to an R, and they replied, "Honestly, we stopped taking notes after 15 minutes." Sounds like a return to form! :)

[peter johnson]

He's always been a mixed-bag for me --
I really loved Polyesther for example -- I can still laugh about that hypno-wheel sequence! -- & enjoyed CryBaby, but was really bored with that thing -- I can't even remember the title now -- he did with the cinematic terrorists with Antonioni tattoos on their arms . . . CB DeMille?  Anyway, most of his other stuff tends to fall in the middle, including Pink Flamingoes.   I admire the guy's vision and all, but don't find it all worth seeing again.
I haven't seen Pecker and some of the other more recent ones, so maybe I'm not being fair.
peter johnson/denny crane

[nobody]

I've only ever seen "Pink Flamingos", so maybe my opinion of John Waters is completely skewed, but he seems to be a director who relies more on shock value than actual substance. Are all his movies like PF?

[dean]

No, Crybaby and Hairspray are very normal in comparison to Pink Flamingos.  Both are very good as well [Crybaby has Johnny Depp, Hairspray has Ricki Lake back in her 'big' days]

John Waters is one of the cult movie directors royalty, so this should be great!

[Yaddo42]

I'm casual admirer of his films, but he is one of my favorite people to see or hear being interviewed. So even if the film isn't any good, he'll be making the rounds again quite likely, especially with the whole NC-17 thing.

Peter Johnson, "Cecil B Demented" was the title you were looking for.

Shock value is one of the standard tools in many of Waters' films, but he's talented enough to choose to use it or not. His films that have flirted with the mainstream like "Cry-Baby", "Hairspray", and I'll include "Serial Mom" and  "Pecker", are tame enough compared to his earlier stuff to prove that there's more to him than just shock. Besides he's said in interviews that the news, real life, and reality TV have surpassed his shock tactics. And that he doubts that he would make it if he were starting out now, because audiences are too jaded.

I think he's just the kind of director who only makes the kind of off-kilter films he chooses, and never had any real career plan to become a mainstream director. IIRC, he's in the early days his films did lousy in regular theaters but the art-house circuit embaced him, as he put it, the higher class the neighborhood the better his films performed. And no one was more surprised by the breakthrough of "Hairspray" and "Cry-Baby" than him.

[blkrider]

It seemed like after he started doing major studio movies he quit on the shock value thing--I know he said numerous times that he would feel silly if he kept trying to one-up himself.   Maybe he's changed his mind....or maybe the ratings people are just a lot more strict.

[peter johnson]

Oh, yeah!  I'd forgotten the titles.
Both my wife and I enjoyed "Serial Mom" and "Hairspray".  Then there's Edith Massey in "Female Trouble" . . . I dunno . . . I guess you really have to say that the guy persevered against his own efforts to derail his own career!
peter johnsons/denny crane

[kriegerg69]

John Waters doesn't spell his name with an apostrophe ("Water's").

You mean "New John Waters movie...", or in the possessive form "John Waters' new movie".

:-)