RE : Paul Ramaeker, discussion of Film ratios and film NBKILLERS I must say, from your patient and thoughtful responses concerning film technology [which I agree with], and your accurate, yet distasteful, opinion of Stones "Killers" as MTV for kids, I would guess that your a person with a few years behind him, and loads of perspective. To move away from film resoluton to film-making, I was really intrigued by "Killers" because it seemed to violate every intuitive rule one would employ in story-telling. Perhaps that is part of the point, and not just a cheap trick. Slo mo bullets with cartoon snd fx killing off innocent people ? Dangerfields brutal parody of *I love Lucy* as as a sexually abusive father ? Twisted stuff, yeah. I came away with the same response {it's a 2 hr MTV feature} with a different conclusion. Generation NEXT will process information differently. Maybe they WILL be able to plug in more directly to the brain and use a whole different set of symbols than we do. [isn't that already happening ?] It will be esoteric, existential --- and very lonely. This film by-passes the"normal" cinematic syntax that we are used to because there is something that is quicker [ if not "Better"] than discursive reasoning. Why do Micki and Mallory do what they do ? Because they do what they do, and for no other reason. Who could figure out who they would kill or not kill ? There was no "why", there was only "what". There is no knowing. If you have to ask, then you don't know. There is no truth to communicate, there is only the life that you live, and I think Tim Leary could shed some light on what Stones world looks like, [along with Frued and Rod Serling.] How do you communicate that world ? Not by reason. I think there is something new afoot here. It's an indicator, a breakthrough ... or a breakdown ! The film to me was a morbid spectacle, like a gruesome car accident that everyone has to slow down and look at, and I was wondering if that was stones point [ HE had one, I assume] : Life has become an out of control spectacle, with nothing but images, sounds and senseless actions that have deadened our response even to brutal death. The bit I liked the least were the inclusions at the end, of the OJ trial, and I forget what else, I think Tanya, or Bobbitt or something : "If you didn't get what I was saying, HERE IT IS !!!", was how I took it. Joseph Cotten once remarked that he thought CITIZEN KANE was "sort of a trick film", and that the MAGNIFICENT AMBERCROMIES was a better STORY. Maybe KILLERS is a trick film in that same sense : Long on "Technique" [ if you'll excuse the way I employ it here] and short on story. ]. But we'll see these moves more and more now that someone did it "first." If Stones movie is accepted in the long run, I think we'll also see a major difference in the way movies are *concieved*, for better or worse. Certainly, it [NBK] will be nominated for Oscars, as KANE was, and we may be on the brink of a wave of REALLY existential films. [Didn't Copppla try that with KOYANNISQUATSI ?} I apologize that this is so long. I had no idea I'd do this. I've been silent about this film since I've seen it. I'd like to know what others think. -- pb, Seattle, WA.